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FOREST FIRE GUARD STATIONED IN A TREE TOP 



THE SCHOOL BOOK OF 
FORESTRY 



BY 
CHARLES LATHROP PACK 

PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN TREE ASSOCIATION 

AUTHOR or "trees as good citizens," "the forest poetic," "the war garden 
victorious," "memorial trees," etc., etc. 




PRICE, $1.00 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE AMERICAN TREE ASSOCIATION 

1214 SIXTEENTH ST., WASHINGTON, D. C. 



PRINTED BY 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA 



^3 



COPYRIGHT IQ22, BY CHARLES LATHROP PACK 



First Printing, November, 1922 
Second Printing, December, 1922 



PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. 



JAN -5 '23 

C1AG02745 



THE AUTHOR GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES INFORMATION 
AND ASSISTANCE FROM THE WRITINGS AND REPORTS OF 
COL. W. B. GREELEY, U. S. FORESTER; COL. HENRY S. 
GRAVES, FORMER U. S. FORESTER; GIFFORD PINCHOT, 
FORMER U. S. FORESTER; DR. B. E. FERNOW, DR. J. W. 
TOUMEY, F. W. BESLEY, W. I. HUTCHINSON, R. H. D. 
BOERKER, PROF. NELSON C. BROWN, PROF. R. S. HOSMER, 
E. A. STERLING, R. S. KELLOGG, E. T. ALLEN, S. GORDON 
DORRANCE, DR. HUGH P. BAKER, ALFRED GASKILL, J. S. 
ILLICK, AND MANY OTHER LEADERS IN FORESTRY. 



"THE PART OF GOOD CITIZENS" 

A people without children would face a hopeless future ; a country 
without trees is almost as helpless ; forests which are so used that 
they cannot renew themselves will soon vanish, and with them all 
their benefits. When you help to preserve our forests or plant new 
ones you are acting the part of good citizens. 

— Theodore Roosevelt. 



INTRODUCTION 

Our forests, with their billions of trees, are 
the backbone of agriculture, the skeleton of lum- 
bering, and the heart of industry. Even now, 
in spite of their depletion, they are the cream 
of our natural resources. They furnish wood 
for the nation, pasture for thousands of cattle 
and sheep, and water supply for countless cities 
and farms. They are the dominions of wild life. 
Millions of birds, game animals, and fish live in 
the forests and the forest streams. The time 
is coming when our forests will be the greatest 
playgrounds of America. It is necessary that 
we preserve, protect, and expand our timber- 
lands. By so doing we shall provide for the 
needs of future generations. 

The forest is one of the most faithful friends 
of man. It provides him with materials to build 
homes. It furnishes fuel. It aids agriculture 
by preventing floods and storing the surplus 
rainfall in the soil for the use of farm crops. It 
supplies the foundation for all our railroads. 
It is the producer of fertile soils. It gives 
employment to millions of workmen. It is a 



INTRODUCTION 

resource which bountifully repays kind treat- 
ment. It is the best organized feature of the 
plant world. The forest is not merely a collec- 
tion of different kinds of trees. It is a perma- 
nent asset which will yield large returns over long 
periods when properly managed. 

Our forest fortune has been thoughtlessly 
squandered by successive generations of spend- 
thrifts. Fortunately, it is not too late to rebuild 
it through cooperative effort. 

The work has been well begun, but it is a 
work of years, and it is to the youth of the 
country that we must look for its continuous 
expansion and perpetuation. A part of our 
effort must be directed toward familiarizing 
them with the needs and rewards of an intelli- 
gent forestry policy. 



CONTENTS 

Introduction 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. How Trees Grow and Multiply 11 

II. The Forest Families 21 

III. Forests and Floods 31 

IV. Wild Life of the Forest 37 

V. Important Forest Trees and Their Uses 41 

VI. The Greatest Enemy of the Forest — Fire 53 

VII. Insects and Diseases That Destroy Forests 64 

VIII. The Growth of the Forestry Idea 73 

IX. Our National Forests 79 

X. The National Forests of Alaska 89 

XI. Progress in State Forestry 95 

XII. The Playgrounds of the Nation 102 

XIII. Solving our Forestry Problems 109 

XIV. Why the United States Should Practice Forestry 116 

XV. Why the Lumberman Should Practice Forestry 126 

XVI. Why the Farmer Should Practice Forestry 135 

XVII. Putting Wood Waste to Work 144 

XVIII. Wood for the Nation 151 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

OPPOSITE PAGE 

Forest Fire Guard Stationed in a Tree Top Frontispiece 

Section of a Virgin Forest 16 

The Sequoias of California 24 

A Forest Ranger and His Forest Cabin 38 

Pine Which Yields Turpentine and Timber 46 

Forest Fires Destroy Millions of Dollars Worth of Timber Every Year 54 

Blackened Ruins of a Fire Swept Forest 60 

Forest Management Provides for Cutting Mature Trees 76 

Seed Beds in a Forest Nursery 84 

Sowing Forest Seed in an Effort to Grow a New Forest ... 98 

A Camping Ground in a National Forest 102 

Good Forests Mean Good Hunting and Fishing 106 

Young White Pine Seeded from Adjoining Pine Trees 120 

What Some Kinds of Timber Cutting Do to a Forest 128 

On Poor Soil Trees are More Profitable Than Farm Crops 136 

A Forest Crop on its Way to the Market 152 



THE SCHOOL BOOK OF 
FORESTRY 

CHAPTER I 
HOW TREES GROW AND MULTIPLY 

The trees of the forest grow by forming new 
layers of wood directly under the bark. Trees 
are held upright in the soil by means of roots 
which reach to a depth of many feet where the 
soil is loose and porous. These roots are the sup- 
ports of the tree. They hold it rigidly in posi- 
tion. They also supply the tree with food. 
Through delicate hairs on the roots, they absorb 
soil moisture and plant food from the earth and 
pass them along to the tree. The body of the 
tree acts as a passage way through which the 
food and drink are conveyed to the top or crown. 
The crown is the place where the food is digested 
and the regeneration of trees effected. 

The leaves contain a material known as chloro- 
phyll, which, in the presence of light and heat, 
changes mineral substances into plant food. 

Chlorophyll gives the leaves their green color. 

11 



12 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

The cells of the plant that are rich in chlorophyll 
have the power to convert carbonic-acid gas into 
carbon and oxygen. These cells combine the car- 
bon and the soil water into chemical mixtures 
which are partially digested when they reach the 
crown of the tree. The water, containing salts, 
which is gathered by the roots is brought up to 
the leaves. Here it combines with the carbonic- 
acid gas taken from the air. Under the action 
of chlorophyll and sunlight these substances are 
split up, the carbon, oxygen and hydrogen being 
combined into plant food. It is either used im- 
mediately or stored away for future emergency. 
Trees breathe somewhat like human beings. 
They take in oxygen and give off carbonic-acid 
gas. The air enters the tree through the leaves 
and small openings in the bark, which are easily 
seen in such trees as the cherry and birch. Trees 
breathe constantly, but they digest and assimilate 
food only during the day and in the presence of 
light. In the process of digestion and assim- 
ilation they give off oxygen in abundance, but 
they retain most of the carbonic acid gas, which 
is a plant food, and whatever part of it is not 
used immediately is stored up by the tree and 
used for its growth and development. Trees also 



HOW TREES GROW AND MULTIPLY 13 

give off their excess moisture through the 
leaves and bark. Otherwise they would be- 
come waterlogged during periods when the 
water is rising rapidly from the roots. 

After the first year, trees grow by increasing 
the thickness of the older buds. Increase in 
height and density of crown cover is due to the 
development of the younger twigs. New growth 
on the tree is spread evenly between the wood 
and bark over the entire body of the plant. This 
process of wood production resembles a factory 
enterprise in which three layers of material are 
engaged. In the first two of these delicate tissues 
the wood is actually made. The inner side of the 
middle layer produces new wood while the outer 
side grows bark. The third layer is responsible 
for the production of the tough, outer bark. Year 
after year new layers of wood are formed around 
the first layers. This first layer finally develops 
into heartwood, which, so far as growth is con- 
cerned, is dead material. Its cells are blocked up 
and prevent the flow of sap. It aids in support- 
ing the tree. The living sapwood surrounds the 
heartwood. Each year one ring of this sapwood 
develops. This process of growth may continue 
until the annual layers amount to 50 or 100, or 
more, according to the life of the tree. 



14 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

One can tell the age of a tree by counting the 
number of annual rings. Sometimes, because of 
the interruption of normal growth, two false 
rings may be produced instead of a single true 
ring. However, such blemishes are easy for the 
trained eye to recognize. Heartwood does not oc- 
cur in all varieties of trees. In some cases, where 
both heartwood and sapwood appear, it is difficult 
to distinguish between them as their colors 
are so nearly alike. Because it takes up so much 
moisture and plant food, sapwood rots much more 
quickly than heartwood. The sapwood really 
acts as a pipe line to carry water from 
the roots to the top of the tree. In some of our 
largest trees the moisture is raised as high as 
300 feet or more through the sapwood. 

Strange though it may seem, trees fight with 
each other for a place in the sunlight. Sprightly 
trees that shoot skyward at a swift pace are the 
ones that develop into the monarchs of the for- 
est. They excel their mates in growth because 
at all times they are exposed to plenty of light. 
The less fortunate trees, that are more stocky 
and sturdy, and less speedy in their climb toward 
the sky, are killed out in large numbers each year. 
The weaker, spindly trees of the forest, which are 



HOW TREES GROW AND MULTIPLY 15 

slow growers, often are smothered out by the 
more vigorous trees. 

Some trees are able to grow iu the shade. 
They develop near or under the large trees of the 
forest. When the giants of the woodland die, 
these smaller trees, which previously were 
shaded, develop rapidly as a result of their free- 
dom from suppression. In many cases they grow 
almost as large and high as the huge trees that 
they replace. In our eastern forests the hemlock 
often follows the white pine in this way. Spruce 
trees may live for many years in dense shade. 
Then finally, when they have access to plenty of 
light they may develop into sturdy trees. A tree 
that is a pigmy in one locality may rank as a 
giant in another region due to different condi- 
tions of growth and climate. For example, the 
canoe birch at its northern limit is a runt. It 
never grows higher than a few feet above the 
ground. Under the most favorable conditions in 
Florida, where this speeies thrives, such trees 
often tower to a height of 125 feet. 

In sheltered regions the seeds of trees may 
fall, sprout and take root close to their parent 
trees. As a rule, the wind plays a prominent 
part in distributing seed in every section of the 



16 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

country. Pine and fir seeds are equipped with 
wings like those of a bird or an airplane. They 
enable the seeds to fly long distances on the wind 
before they drop to the ground and are covered 
with leaves. Maple seeds fly by means of double- 
winged sails which carry them far afield before 
they settle. Ash seeds have peculiar appendages 
which act like a skate-sail in transporting them 
to distant sections. Cottonwood seeds have 
downy wings which aid their flight, while bass- 
wood seeds are distributed over the country by 
means of parachute-like wings. The pods of the 
locust tree fall on the frozen ground or snow 
crust and are blown long distances from their 
source. On the other hand, oak, hickory, and 
chestnut trees produce heavy seeds which gener- 
ally remain where they fall. 

Squirrels are the most industrious foresters 
in the animal world. Each year they bury great 
quantities of tree seeds in hoards or caches hidden 
away in hollow logs or in the moss and leaves of 
the forest floor. Birds also scatter tree seed 
here, there, and everywhere over the forests and 
the surrounding country. Running streams and 
rivers carry seeds uninjured for many miles 
and finally deposit them in places where they 



HOW TREES GROW AND MULTIPLY 17 

sprout and grow into trees. Many seeds are 
carried by the ocean currents to distant foreign 
shores. 

The decay of leaves and woodland vegetation 
forms rich and fertile soils in the forests, in which 
conditions are favorable for the development of 
new tree growth. When living tree seeds are 
exposed to proper amounts of moisture, warmth 
and air in a fertile soil, they will sprout and grow. 
A root develops which pushes its way down into 
the soil, while the leaf -bud of the plant, which 
springs from the other end of the seed, works its 
way upward toward the light and air. This 
leafy part of the seed finally forms the stem of 
the tree. But trees may produce plenty of seed 
and yet fail to maintain their proper proportion 
in the forest. This results because much of the 
seed is unsound. Even where a satisfactory sup- 
ply of sound fertile seed is produced, it does not 
follow that the trees of that variety will be main- 
tained in the forest, as the seed supply may be 
scattered in unfavorable positions for germina- 
tion. Millions of little seedlings, however, start 
to grow in the forest each year, but only a small 
number survive and become large trees. This 
is because so many of the seedlings are destroyed 



18 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

by forest fires, cattle and sheep grazing, unfavor- 
able soil and weather conditions, and many 
other causes. 

Beech and chestnut trees and others of the 
broad-leaved type reproduce by means of sprouts 
as well as by seed. Generally, the young stumps 
of broad-leaved trees produce more sprouts than 
the stumps of older trees which have stood for 
some time. Among the cone-bearing trees re- 
production by sprouts is rare. The redwood of 
California is one of the few exceptions. The 
pitch pine of the Eastern States produces many 
sprouts, few of which live and develop into mar- 
ketable timber. 

When trees are grown in nurseries, the prac- 
tice is to sow the seed in special beds filled with 
rich soil. Lath screens are used as shade. They 
protect the young seedlings from the sun just as 
the parent trees would do in the forest. The 
seedbeds are kept well cultivated and free of 
weeds so that the seedlings may have the best 
opportunities for rapid growth. Generally the 
seeds are sown in the spring between March and 
May. Such seeds as the elms and soft maples, 
wkich ripen in the early summer, are sown as 
soon as possible after they are gathered. Prac- 



HOW TREES GROW AND MULTIPLY 19 

tical tests have shown that thick sowings of tree 
seeds give the best results. There is little dan- 
ger of weeds smothering out the seedlings under 
such conditions. After the seed has germinated 
the beds may be thinned so that the seedlings will 
have more room to develop. 

During the fall of the same year, or in the fol- 
lowing spring, the seedlings should be trans- 
planted to nursery rows. Thereafter it is cus- 
tomary to transplant the young trees at least 
once again during damp weather. When the 
trees finally are robust and vigorous and have 
reached the age of two to &ve years, they are dug 
up carefully and set out permanently. The usual 
practice is to keep the seedlings one year in the 
seedbed and two years in the nursery rows before 
they are set out. Whether the transplanting 
should take place during the spring or fall de- 
pends largely on the climate and geography of 
the locality. Practical experience is the best 
guide in such matters. 

Some farmers and land owners are now inter- 
ested in setting out hardwood forests for com- 
mercial purposes. If they do not wish to 
purchase their seedlings from a reliable nursery- 
man, they can grow them from carefully selected 



20 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

seed planted in well-prepared seedbeds. The 
popular practice is to sow the seed in drills about 
2 to 3 feet apart so that horses may be used for 
cultivation. The seeds are sown to a depth of 2 
to 3 times their thickness. They are placed close 
enough in the drill so that from 12 to 15 seedlings 
to the linear foot result. In order to hasten the 
sprouting of the seeds, some planters soak them 
in cold water for several days before sowing. In 
the case of such hard-coated seed as the black 
locust or honey locust, it is best to soak them in 
hot water before planting. 



CHAPTER II 

THE FOREST FAMILIES 

Trees are as queer in picking out places to 
live and in their habits of growth as are the 
peoples of the various races which inhabit the 
world. Some trees do best in the icy northland. 
They become weak and die when brought to warm 
climates. Others that are accustomed to tropical 
weather fail to make further growth when ex- 
posed to extreme cold. The appearance of Jack 
Frost means death to most of the trees that come 
from near the equator. Even on the opposite 
slopes of the same mountain the types of trees are 
often very different. Trees that do well on the 
north side require plenty of moisture and cool 
weather. Those that prosper on south exposures 
are equipped to resist late and early frosts as well 
as very hot sunshine. The moisture needs of 
different trees are as remarkable as their likes 
and dislikes for warmth and cold. Some trees 
attain large size in a swampy country. Trees of 
the same kind will become stunted in sections 

where dry weather persists. 

21 



22 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

In some parts of the United States forestry- 
experts can tell where they are by the local tree 
growth. For example, in the extreme northern 
districts the spruce and the balsam fir are native. 
As one travels farther south these give way to 
little Jack pine and aspen trees. Next come the 
stately forests of white and Norway pine. Some- 
times a few slow-growing hemlock trees appear 
in the colder sections. If one continues his jour- 
ney toward the equator he will next pass through 
forests of broad-leaved trees. They will in- 
clude oak, maple, beech, chestnut, hickory, and 
sycamore. 

In Kentucky, which is a centre of the broad- 
leaved belt, there are several hundred different 
varieties of trees. Farther south, the cone- 
bearing species prevail. They are followed in 
the march toward the Gulf of Mexico by the 
tropical trees of southern Florida. If one jour- 
neys west from the Mississippi River across the 
Great Plains he finally will come to the Rocky 
Mountains, where evergreen trees predominate. 
If oak, maple, poplar, or other broad-leaved trees 
grow in that region, they occur in scattered 
stands. In the eastern forests the trees are close 
together. They form a leafy canopy overhead. 



THE FOREST FAMILIES 23 

In the forests of the Rockies the evergreens stand 
some distance apart so that their tops do not 
touch. As a result, these Western forests do not 
shade the ground as well as those in the east. 
This causes the soils of these forests to be much 
drier, and also increases the danger from fire. 

The forests of western Washington and Ore- 
gon, unlike most timberlands of the Rocky Moun- 
tain Region, are as dense as any forests in the 
world. Even at midday it is as dark as twilight 
in these forests. The trees are gigantic. They 
tower 150 to 300 feet above the ground. Their 
trunks often are 6 feet or larger in diameter. 
They make the trees of the eastern forests look 
stunted. They are excelled in size only by the 
mammoth redwood trees of northern California 
and the giant Sequoias of the southern Sierras. 

Differences of climate have largely influenced 
tree growth and types in this country. The dis- 
tribution of tree families is changing all the time. 
It shifts just as the climate and other conditions 
change. Trees constantly strive among them- 
selves for control of different localities. For a 
time one species will predominate. Then other 
varieties will appear and displace the ones al- 
ready established. The distribution of trees 



24 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

changes very remarkably from one century to 
another. For example, in some sections, the red 
and black oaks are replacing the white oaks. 
Some trees are light-lovers. They require much 
more sunlight than others that do well under 
heavy shade. Oak trees require plenty of light ; 
maples or beeches thrive on little light. 

The seed of trees requiring little light may 
be scattered in a dense forest together with that 
of trees which need plenty of daylight in order 
to make normal growth. The seedlings that like 
shade will develop under such conditions while 
those that need light will pine away and die. 
Gradually the shade-loving trees will replace the 
light-loving trees in such a forest stand. Even 
the different trees of the same family often strive 
with one another for light and moisture. Each 
tree differs from every other one in shape and 
size. Trees will adapt themselves to the light 
and moisture conditions to which they are ex- 
posed. A tree that has access to plenty of 
moisture and sunlight grows evenly from the 
ground to its top with a bushy, wide-spreading 
crown. The same tree, if it grows in the shade, 
will reach a greater height but will have a small 
compact crown. Trees run a race in their rapid- 




THE SEQUOIAS OF CALIFORNIA 



THE FOREST FAMILIES 25 

ity of growth. The winners get the desirable 
places in the sunlight and prosper. The losers 
develop into stunted trees that often die, due to 
lack of light exposure. A better quality of lum- 
ber results from tall straight trees than that pro- 
duced by the symmetrical, branching trees. That 
is why every forester who sets out trees tries to 
provide conditions which will make them grow 
tall and with the smallest possible covering of 
branches on the lower part of the trunks. 

Where trees are exposed to strong winds, they 
develop deep and strong root systems. They 
produce large and strong trunks that can bend 
and resist violent winds which sway and twist 
them in every direction. Such trees are much 
stronger and sturdier than those that grow in a 
sheltered forest. The trees that are blown down 
in the forest provide space for the introduction 
and growth of new varieties. These activities 
are constantly changing the type of tree growth 
in the forest. 

Our original forests which bordered the At- 
lantic coast line when America was first settled, 
were dense and impenetrable. The colonists 
feared the forests because they sheltered the hos- 
tile Indians who lurked near the white settle- 



26 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

ments. In time this fear of the forest developed 
into hatred of the forest. As a result, the col- 
onists cut trees as rapidly as they could. In 
every way they fought back the wilderness. They 
and their children's children have worked so 
effectively that the original wealth of woodlands 
has been depleted. At present, cleared fields and 
cutover areas abound in regions that at one time 
were covered with magnificent stands of timber. 
In many sections of the country our forests 
are now so reduced that they are of little commer- 
cial importance. However, these areas are not 
yet entirely denuded. Predictions have been 
made frequently that our woodlands would soon 
disappear. Scientific foresters report that such 
statements are incorrect. There are only a few 
districts in the country which probably will never 
again support much tree growth. Their denuded 
condition is due largely to the destruction of the 
neighboring mountain forests and to the activi- 
ties of erosion. Under ordinary conditions, nat- 
ural reforestation will maintain a satisfactory 
tree growth on lands where a practical system of 
forest protection is practiced. The complete 
removal of the forest is now accomplished only in 
fertile farming regions, where the agricultural 



THE FOREST FAMILIES 27 

value of the land is too high to permit it to remain 
longer in forest cover. Even in the Mississippi 
Valley and the Great Lakes belts there are still 
large areas of forest land. Most of the farms 
have woodlots which provide fuel, fencing, and 
some lumber. For the most part, these farm 
woodlots are abused. They have not been man- 
aged correctly. Fortunately, a change for the 
better is now evident. The farm woodlot owners 
are coming to appreciate the importance of pro- 
tecting the trees for future use. In some cases, 
they are even replanting areas that have been cut 
over. There are large tracts of sandy, rocky and 
swampy land in these districts that are satisfac- 
tory for tree production. In fact, about all these 
fields are good for is the growing of timber. Cam- 
paigns are now under way to increase tree plant- 
ing and develop the production of lands adapted 
for forestry which previously have been idle. 

The United States of the future will not be 
a desert, tree-less country. However, immediate 
measures to save our remaining trees must be 
developed. The greater part of our virgin timber 
has already been felled. The aftermath forests, 
which succeed the virgin stand, generally are 
inferior. Our supplies of ash, black walnut and 



28 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

hickory, once abundant, are now seriously lim- 
ited. Formerly, these mixed forests covered 
vast stretches of country which today support 
only a scant crop of young trees which will not 
be ready for market for many years. These 
second-growth stands will never approach in 
value or quality the original forests. Over large 
areas, poplar, white birch, and Jack pine trees 
now predominate on lands which formerly bore 
dense stands of white pine. In many places, 
scrubby underbrush and stunted trees occupy 
lands which heretofore have been heavy pro- 
ducers of marketable timber trees. 

Generally speaking, farm lands should not be 
used for forestry purposes. On the other hand, 
some forest lands can be profitably cleared and 
used for agriculture. For example, settlers are 
felling trees and fighting stumps in northern 
Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Some of 
these virgin lands are valuable for farming pur- 
poses, others are not. It is preferable that they 
should produce farm crops instead of tree crops 
if the land is best adapted to agricultural use. 
It is an economic necessity that all lands in this 
country best suited for farming purposes should 
be tilled. Our ever-increasing population de- 



THE FOREST FAMILIES 29 

mands that every acre of land useful for growing 
crops should be cleared and devoted to farming. 
Under such conditions, the settlers should reserve 
sufficient woodlands for their home needs, care- 
fully distinguishing between the land that is best 
for agricultural purposes and the land that is 
best for forestry purposes, and thus doubling 
their resources, 

Thoughtless lumbermen have pillaged mil- 
lions of acres of our most productive forests. 
The early lumbermen wasted our woodland re- 
sources. They made the same mistakes as 
everyone else in the care and protection of our 
original forests. The greatest blame for the 
wasting of our lumber resources rests with the 
State and Federal authorities who permitted the 
depletion. Many of our lumbermen now appre- 
ciate the need of preserving and protecting our 
forests for future generations. Some of them 
have changed their policies and are now doing 
all in their power to aid forest conservation. 

The ability of a properly managed forest to 
produce new crops of trees year after year prom- 
ises us a future supply of wood sufficient for all 
our needs if only we will conserve our timber- 
lands as they deserve. It is our duty to handle 



30 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

the forests in the same way that fertile farming 
fields are managed. That is to say, they should 
be so treated that they will yield a profitable 
money crop every year without reducing their 
powers of future production. Private owners 
and farmers are coming slowly to realize the 
grave importance of preserving and extending 
our woodlands. The public, the State and the 
Nation are now solidly behind the movement to 
improve our forestry and to safe-guard our 
forests. Several of the States, including New 
York and Pennsylvania, have purchased large 
areas of timberlands for State forests. 
These will be developed as future sources of 
lumber supply. 



CHAPTER III 
FORESTS AND FLOODS 

Forests are necessary at the headwaters of 
streams. The trees break the force of the rain 
drops, and the forest floor, acting as a large 
sponge, absorbs rainfall and prevents run-off 
and floods. Unless there are forests at the 
sources of streams and rivers, floods occur. The 
spring uprisings of the Mississippi, Ohio and 
Missouri Rivers are due largely to the lack of 
forests at their headwaters. In the regions 
drained by these streams the run-off water is 
not absorbed as it should be. It flows unimpeded 
from the higher levels to the river valleys. It 
floods the river courses with so much water that 
they burst their banks and pour pell-mell over 
the surrounding country. Many floods which 
occur in the United States occur because we have 
cut down large areas of trees which formerly 
protected the sources of streams and rivers. 

A grave danger that threatens western farm- 
ing is that some time in the future the greater 
part of the vegetation and forest cover on the 

31 



32 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

watersheds of that section may entirely disap- 
pear. Such a condition would cause floods after 
every heavy rain. The available supplies of rain- 
water which are needed for the thirsty crops 
would be wasted as flood waters. These floods 
would cause great damage in the valleys through 
which they rushed. The freshets would be fol- 
lowed by periods of water famine. The streams 
would then be so low that they could not supply 
the normal demands. Farmers would suffer on 
account of the lack of irrigation water. Towns 
and cities that depended on the mountain streams 
for their water supplies would be handicapped 
severely. In a thousand and one ways, a defi- 
cient water supply due to forest depletion would 
cause hardships and suffering in the regions ex- 
posed to such misfortune. 

The important part which forests play in the 
development of our country is shown by the fact 
that from the streams of the National Forests 
over 700 western cities and towns, with an aggre- 
gate population of nearly 2,500,000, obtain their 
domestic water supply. The forests include 1266 
irrigation projects and 325 water-power plants, 
in addition to many other power and irrigation 
companies which depend on the Government tim- 



FORESTS AND FLOODS 33 

berlands for water conservation and the regula- 
tion of rain water run-off and stream flow. 

The National Forests aid greatly in con- 
serving and making available for use the pre- 
cious limited rainfall of the arid regions. That 
is why settlers in irrigated districts are deeply 
interested in the cutting of timber in the Federal 
woodlands. Destructive lumbering is never 
practiced in these forests. In its place has been 
substituted a system of management that assures 
the continued preservation of the forest-cover. 
Uncle Sam is paying special attention to the 
western water-sheds which supply reclamation 
and irrigation projects. He understands that 
the ability of the forest to regulate stream flow 
is of great importance. The irrigation farmers 
also desire a regular flow, evenly distributed, 
throughout the growing season. 

One of the chief reasons for the establishment 
of the National Forest was to preserve the natu- 
ral conditions favorable to stream flow. In a 
treeless country, the rise of the streams is a very 
accurate measure of the rainfall. In the region 
where forests are frequent, an ordinary rain is 
scarcely noticed in its effect on the stream. In 
a denuded district no natural obstacles impede 



34 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

the raindrops as they patter to the ground. The 
surface of the soil is usually hard. It is baked 
and dried out by the sun. It is not in condition 
to absorb or retain much of the run-off water, 
consequently, the rain water finds little to stop 
it as it swirls down the slopes. In torrents it 
rushes down the stream beds, like sheets of water 
flowing down the steep roof of a house. 

Conditions are very different in a region 
where forest cover is abundant. In the forests, 
the tops of the trees catch much of the rain that 
falls. The leaves, twigs, branches and trunks 
of the trees also soak up considerable moisture. 
The amount of rainfall that directly strikes the 
ground is relatively small. The upper layer of 
the forested ground consists of a network of 
shrubs, and dead leaves, branches, and moss. This 
forest carpet acts like an enormous sponge. It 
soaks up the moisture which drops from the trees 
during a storm. It can absorb and hold for a time 
a rainfall of four or five inches. The water that 
finally reaches the ground sinks into the soil and 
is evaporated or runs off slowly. The portion 
that is absorbed by the soil is taken up by the 
roots of the trees and plants or goes to supply 
springs and watercourses. 



FORESTS AND FLOODS 85 

The power of the trees arid forest soil to ab- 
sorb water regulates the rate at which the rain- 
fall is fed to the streams and rivers. Frequently 
it takes weeks and even months for all the waters 
of a certain rain to reach these streams. This 
gradual supplying of water to the streams regu- 
lates their flow. It prevents floods and freshets. 
Careful observation and measurements have 
shown that unforested regions will discharge 
rain water at least twice as fast as will 
forested districts. 

The stealing of soil by erosion occurs where 
run-off waters are not obstructed by forest 
growth. Silt, sand, and every other kind of soil 
are swept from their natural positions and sprit- 
ted away by the foaming waters as they surge 
down the steep slopes. The stream or river 
which is flooded by these rushing waters roars 
down its narrow channel, tearing loose and under- 
mining the jutting banks. In some cases, it will 
break from its ordinary course to flood exposed 
fields and to carry away more soil. As the speed 
of the stream increases its power to steal soil and 
carry it off is increased. Engineers report that 
the carrying power of a stream is increased 64 
times when its rate of flow is doubled. If the 



36 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

flow of a river is speeded up ten times, this raging 
torrent will be able to carry one million times as 
much foreign material as it did when it was 
flowing at a normal rate of speed, causing inex- 
pressible damage and destruction of life and 
property. 

The protection afforded by forests on the 
water-sheds of streams furnishing the domestic 
water supply for cities and towns is becoming 
more fully realized. A large number of cities and 
towns have purchased and are maintaining muni- 
cipal or communal forests for this very reason. 



CHAPTER IV 
WILD LIFE OF THE FOREST 

The forests of our country are the home and 
breeding grounds of hundreds of millions of birds 
and game animals, which the forests provide with 
food and shelter. If we had no forests, many 
of these birds and animals would soon disappear. 
The acorns and other nuts that the squirrels live 
upon are examples of the food that the forest 
provides for its residents. 

In the clear, cold streams of the forests there 
are many different kinds of fish. If the forests 
were destroyed by cutting or fire many of the 
brooks and rivers would either dry up or the 
water would become so low that thousands of fish 
would die. 

The most abundant game animals of forest 
regions are deer, elk, antelope and moose. Part- 
ridge, grouse, quail, wild turkeys and other game 
birds are plentiful in some regions. The best 
known of all the inhabitants of the woods are the 
squirrels. The presence of these many birds and 
animals adds greatly to the attractiveness of 
the forest. 

87 



38 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Predatory animals, such as wolves, bears, 
mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats also live in 
the forest. They kill much livestock each year in 
the mountain regions of the Western States and 
they also prey on some species of bird life. The 
Federal and some State governments now employ 
professional hunters to trap and shoot these 
marauders. Each year the hunters kill thou- 
sands of predatory animals, thus saving the 
farmers and cattle and sheep owners many thou- 
sands of dollars. 

Sportsmen are so numerous and hunting is 
so popular, that game refuges have to be provided 
in the forests and parks. Were it not for these 
havens of refuge where hunting is not permitted, 
some of our best known wild game and birds 
would soon be extinct. There are more than 
11,640,648 acres of forest land in the government 
game refuges. California has 22 game refuges 
in her 17 National Forests. New Mexico has 19, 
while Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Washington 
and Oregon also have set aside areas of govern- 
ment forest land for that purpose. In establish- 
ing a game refuge, it is necessary to pick out a 
large area of land that contains enough good feed 



WILD LIFE OF THE FOREST 39 

for both the summer and winter use of the ani- 
mals that will inhabit it. 

Livestock is sometimes grazed on game ref- 
uges, but only in small numbers, so that plenty of 
grass will be left for the support of the wild 
game. The refuges are under the direction of 
the Federal and the State game departments. 
To perpetuate game animals and game birds, it 
is not enough to pass game laws and forbid the 
shooting of certain animals and birds except at 
special times of the year; it is also necessary 
to provide good breeding grounds for the birds 
and animals where they will not be molested or 
killed. The game refuges provide such conditions. 

The division of the range country into small 
farms and the raising of all kinds of crops have, 
it is claimed, done more to decrease our herds of 
antelope, elk, deer and other big game than have 
the rifles of the hunters. The plow and harrow 
have driven the wild life back into the rougher 
country. The snow becomes very deep in the 
mountains in the winter and the wild animals 
could not get food were it not for the game ref- 
uges in the low country. In the Yellowstone 
National Park country great bands of elk come 
down from the mountains during severe winters 



40 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

and have to be fed on hay to keep them from 
starving, as there is not sufficient winter range 
in this region to supply food for the thousands 

of elk. 

Where the elk are protected from hunters 
they increase rapidly. This means that some of 
the surplus animals have to be killed, otherwise, 
the elk would soon be so numerous that they 
would seriously interfere with the grazing of 
domestic livestock. In different sections of the 
elk country, a count is made every few years on 
the breeding animals in each band. Whenever 
a surplus accumulates, the state permits hunters 
to shoot some of the elk. If the breeding herds 
get too small, no hunting is allowed. In this way, 
a proper balance is maintained. 

In many states the wild game birds and fur- 
bearing animals of the forests are protected by 
closed seasons during which hunting is not per- 
mitted. It is realized that birds and animals are 
not only of interest to visitors to the forests, 
but that they, as well as the trees, are a valuable 
forest product. 



CHAPTER V 
IMPORTANT FOREST TREES AND THEIR USES 

Of our native trees, the white pine is one of 
the best and most valuable. It is a tall straight 
tree that grows to a height of 100 to 150 feet. It 
produces wood that is light in weight and easy to 
work because it is so soft. At one time there 
were extensive pine forests in the northeastern 
states. Many of the trees were very large, and 
occasionally one may still see pine stumps that 
are 5 to 6 feet in diameter. White pine made fine 
lumber for houses and other buildings and this 
timber was among the first to be exhausted in 
the country. 

Spruce trees have long furnished the bulk 
of the woodpulp used in making our supplies of 
paper. These trees live in the colder climates 
of the northern states. They like to grow in low, 
wet localities close to lakes or rivers. The spruces 
generally do not grow higher than 75-100 feet. 
The wood is soft like pine and even whiter in 
color. The aboriginal Indians used the roots of 
the spruce trees as thread, twine and rope. 

41 



42 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

The cedar trees, which are landmarks in many 
of our northern states, yield light, soft, durable 
wood that is useful in making poles, fence posts, 
lead pencils and cedar chests. The wood of the 
red cedar gives off a peculiar odor which is said 
to keep moths away from clothes stored in cedar 
chests, but it is the close construction of the chest 
which keeps them out. These trees are be- 
coming scarce in all parts of the country. Cedars 
generally are small trees that grow slowly and 
live a long time. The outside wood is white and 
the heartwood is red or yellow. Cedar posts last a 
long time and are excellent for use in farm fences. 

Chestnut bright, which destroys entire forests 
of chestnut timber, is gradually exhausting our 
supplies of this wood. Chestnut timber has long 
been used for railroad ties, fence posts and in the 
manufacture of cheap furniture. The wood is 
soft and brown in color. The bark and wood are 
treated at special plants in such a way that an 
extract which is valuable for tanning leather 
is obtained. Chestnut trees are upstanding, 
straight trees that tower 80 to 100 feet above the 
ground. The extinction of our chestnut forests 
threatens as no effectual control measures for 



IMPORTANT FOREST TREES AND THEIR USES 43 

checking the chestnut blight disease over large 
areas has yet been discovered. 

The yellow poplar or tulip poplar furnishes 
timber for the manufacture of furniture, paper, 
the interior of railroad cars and automobiles. 
The dugouts of the early settlers and Indians 
were hewed out of poplar logs. These boats were 
stronger than those made of canoe birch. Poplar 
wood is yellow in color and soft in texture. The 
poplar is the largest broad-leaf tree in this coun- 
try and the trees are of great size and height. 
Some specimens found in the mountains of the 
South have been over 200 feet high and 8 to 10 
feet in diameter, while poplars 125 to 150 feet 
high are quite common. 

Among our most useful and valuable trees are 
the white oak, and its close kin, the red oak, which 
produce a brown-colored, hard wood of remark- 
able durability. The white oak is the monarch of 
the forest, as it lives very long and is larger and 
stronger than the majority of its associates. 
The timber is used for railroad ties, furniture, 
and in general construction work where tough, 
durable lumber is needed. Many of our wooden 
ships have been built of oak. The white oaks 
often grow as high as 100 feet and attain massive 



44 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

dimensions. The seeds of the white oaks are 
light brown acorns, which are highly relished by 
birds and animals. Many southern farmers 
range their hogs in white oak forests so that the 
porkers can live on the acorn crop. 

Beech wood is strong and tough and is used 
in making boxes and barrels and casks for the 
shipment of butter, sugar and other foods. It 
makes axles and shafts for water-wheels that will 
last for many years. The shoes worn by Dutch 
children are generally made of beech. The wood 
is red in color. The beech tree is of medium size 
growing to a height of about 75 feet above the 
ground. There is only one common variety of 
beech tree in this country. 

Hickory trees are very popular because they 
produce sweet, edible nuts. The hickory wood is 
exceedingly strong and tough and is used wher- 
ever stout material is needed. For the spokes, 
wheels and bodies of buggies and wagons, for 
agricultural implements, for automobile wheels 
and for handles, hickory is unexcelled. The 
shafts of golf clubs as well as some types of base- 
ball bats are made of hickory. Most hickory 
trees are easy to identify on account of their 
shaggy bark. The nuts of the hickory, which 



IMPORTANT FOREST TREES AND THEIR USES 45 

ripen in the autumn, are sweet, delicious and 
much in demand. 

Our native elm tree is stately, reaching a 
height of 100 feet and a diameter of 5 to 6 feet or 
more. It is one of our best shade trees. Elm 
wood is light brown in color and very heavy and 
strong. It is the best available wood for making 
wagon wheel hubs and is also used largely for 
baskets and barrels. The rims of bicycle wheels 
generally are made of elm. 

The canoe birch is a tree which was treasured 
by the early Indians because it yielded bark for 
making canoes. Birch wood is used in making 
shoe lasts and pegs because of its strength and 
light weight, and the millions of spools on which 
cotton is wound are made of birch wood. 
School desks and church furniture, also, are 
made of birch. The orange-colored inner bark 
of the birch tree is so fine and delicate 
that the early settlers could use it as they would 
paper. No matter whether birch wood is green 
or dry, it will burn readily. The birch was the 
most useful tree of the forest to the Indians. 
Its bark was used not only for making their 
canoes, but also for building their wigwams. 



46 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

They even dried and ground the inner bark into 
a flour which they used as a food. 

The northern sugar maple is another tree 
which is a favorite in all sections where it is 
grown. This tree yields a hard wood that is the 
best and toughest timber grown in some localities. 
The trees grow to heights of 75 to 100 feet and 
attain girths of 5 to 9 feet. Maple lumber is stout 
and heavy. It makes fine flooring and is used 
in skating rinks and for bowling alleys. Many 
pianos are made of maple. Wooden dishes and 
rolling pins are usually made from maple wood. 
During the spring of the year when the sap is 
flowing, the average mature maple tree will yield 
from fifteen to twenty gallons of sap in a period 
of three to four weeks. This sap is afterwards 
boiled down to maple syrup and sugar. 

Hemlock trees, despite the fact that they rank 
among the most beautiful trees of the forest, 
produce lumber which is suitable only for rough 
building operations. The wood is brown and 
soft and will not last long when exposed to the 
weather. It cracks and splits easily because it 
is so brittle. Hemlock is now of considerable 
importance as pulpwood for making paper. For 
many years, a material important for tanning 



IMPORTANT FOREST TREES AND THEIR USES 47 

leather has been extracted in large amounts from 
the bark of hemlock trees. 

One of the most pleasing uses to which the 
balsam fir is put is as Christmas trees. Some- 
times it is used in making paper pulp. The 
balsam fir seldom grows higher than 50 feet or 
thicker than 12 inches. The leaves of this tree 
have a very sweet odor and are in demand at 
Christmas time. Foresters and woodsmen often 
use balsam boughs to make their beds and pillows 
when camping in the woods. 

Our native supplies of hardwoods and soft- 
woods are used for general building purposes, 
for farm repairs, for railroad ties, in the furni- 
ture and veneer industry, in the handle industry, 
and in the vehicle and agricultural implement 
industries. On the average each American 
farmer uses about 2,000 board feet of lumber each 
year. New farm building decreased in the sev- 
eral years following the World War, due to the 
high price of lumber and labor. As a result of 
this lack of necessary building, millions of dollars 
worth of farm machinery stood out in the 
weather. Livestock lacked stables in some sec- 
tions. Very little building was done in that 



48 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

period in two hundred and fifty prosperous agri- 
cultural counties in thirty-two different states. 

The railroads consume about 15 per cent, of 
our total lumber cut. They use between 
100,000,000 and 125,000,000 railroad ties a year. 
It used to be that most of the cross-ties were 
of white oak cut close to the places where they 
were used. Now Douglas fir, southern pine and 
other woods are being used largely throughout 
the Middle Western and Eastern States. The 
supply of white oak ties is small and the prices 
are high. Some years ago, when white oak was 
abundant, the railroads that now are using other 
cross-ties would not have even considered such 
material for use in their roadbeds. The fact that 
other ties are now being used emphasizes the fact 
that we are short on oak timber in the sections 
where this hardwood formerly was common. 

The furniture industry uses hardwoods of 
superior grade and quality. The factories of 
this industry have moved from region to region 
as the supply of hardwoods became depleted. 
Originally, these factories were located in the 
Northeastern States. Then, as the supplies of 
hardwood timber in those sections gave out, they 
moved westward. They remained near the Corn 



IMPORTANT FOREST TREES AND THEIR USES 49 

Belt until the virgin hardwood forests of the 
Middle West were practically exhausted. The 
furniture industry is now largely dependent on 
what hardwoods are left in the remote sections of 
the Southern Appalachians and the lower Missis- 
sippi Valley. When these limited supplies are 
used up, there will be very little more old-growth 
timber in the country for them to use. 

The furniture, veneer, handle, vehicle, auto- 
mobile and agricultural implement industries all 
are in competition for hardwood timber. The 
furniture industry uses 1,250,000,000 feet of high- 
grade hardwood lumber annually. Production 
of timber of this type for furniture has decreased 
as much as 50 per cent, during the past few years. 
It is now difficult for the furniture factories and 
veneer plants to secure enough raw materials. 
Facilities for drying the green lumber arti- 
ficially are few. It used to be that the hardwood 
lumber was seasoned for six to nine months be- 
fore being sold. Furniture dealers now have to 
buy the material green from the sawmills. Com- 
petition has become so keen that buyers pay high 
prices. They must have the material to keep 
their plants running and to supply their trade. 

The veneer industry provides furniture man- 



50 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

ufacturers, musical instrument factories, box 
makers and the automobile industry with high- 
grade material. The industry uses annually 
780,000,000 board feet of first quality hardwood 
cut from virgin stands of timber. Red gum and 
white oak are the hardwoods most in demand. 
In the Lake States, a branch of the veneer indus- 
try which uses maple, birch and basswood is 
located. Oak formerly was the most important 
wood used. Now red gum has replaced the oak, 
as the supplies of the latter timber have 
dwindled. At present there is less than one- 
fourth of a normal supply of veneer timber in 
sight. Even the supplies in the farmers' wood- 
lands are being depleted. The industry is now 
largely dependent on the timber of the southern 
Mississippi Valley. The veneer industry requires 
best-grade material. Clear logs are demanded 
that are at least 16 inches in diameter at the small 
end. It is getting harder every year to secure 
such logs. Like the furniture industry, the veneer 
mills lack adequate supplies of good timber. 

No satisfactory substitutes for the hickory 
and ash used in the handle industry have yet been 
found. About the only stocks of these timbers 
now left are in the Southern States. Even in 



IMPORTANT FOREST TREES AND THEIR USES 51 

those parts the supplies are getting short and it 
is necessary to cut timber in the more remote sec- 
tions distant from the railroad. The ash short- 
age is even more serious than that of hickory 
timber. The supplies of ash in the Middle West 
States north of the Ohio Kiver are practically 
exhausted. The demand for ash and hickory 
handles is larger even than before the World 
War. The entire world depends on the United 
States for handles made from these woods. 
Handle dealers are now willing to pay high 
prices for ash and hickory timber. Some of them 
prepared for the shortage by buying tracts of 
hardwood timber. When these reserves are cut 
over, these dealers will be in the same position as 
the rest of the trade. 

Ash and hickory are in demand also by the 
vehicle and agricultural implement industries. 
They also use considerable oak and compete with 
the furniture industry to secure what they need 
of this timber. Most of these plants are located 
in the Middle West but they draw their timber 
chiefly from the South. Hickory is a necessary 
wood to the vehicle industry for use in spokes and 
wheels. The factories exert every effort to 
secure adequate supplies of timber from the farm 



52 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

woodlands, sawmills and logging camps. The 
automobile industry now uses considerable hick- 
ory in the wheels and spokes of motor cars. 

Most of the stock used by the vehicle industry 
is purchased green. Neither the lumber nor ve- 
hicle industry is equipped with enough kilns for 
curing this green material. The losses in work- 
ing and manufacturing are heavy, running as 
high as 40 per cent. Many substitutes for ash, 
oak and hickory have been tried but they have 
failed to prove satisfactory. On account of the 
shortage and the high prices of hickory, vehicle 
factories are using steel in place of hickory wher- 
ever possible. Steel is more expensive but it can 
always be secured in quantity when needed. 
Furthermore, it is durable and very strong. 

Thus we see that our resources of useful soft 
woods and hard woods have both been so dimin- 
ished that prompt reforestation of these species 
is an urgent necessity. 



CHAPTER VI 
THE GREATEST ENEMY OF THE FOREST— FIRE 

Our forests are exposed to destruction by 
many enemies, the worst of which is fire. Prom 
8,000,000 to 12,000,000 acres of forest lands an- 
nually are burned over by destructive fires. 
These fires are started in many different ways. 
They may be caused by sparks or hot ashes from a 
locomotive. Lightning strikes in many forests 
every summer, particularly those of the Western 
States, and ignites many trees. In the South 
people sometimes set fires in order to improve the 
grazing. Settlers and farmers who are clearing 
land often start big brush fires that get out of 
their control. Campers, tourists, hunters, and 
fishermen are responsible for many forest fires by 
neglecting to extinguish their campfires. Sparks 
from logging engines also cause fires. Cigar 
and cigarette stubs and burning matches care- 
lessly thrown aside start many forest fires. 
Occasionally fires are also maliciously set by evil- 
minded people. 

The officers of the National Forests in the 

53 



54 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

West have become very expert in running down 
the people who set incendiary fires. They collect 
evidence at the scene of the fire, such as pieces of 
letters and envelopes, matches, lost handker- 
chiefs and similar articles. They hunt for foot 
tracks and hoof marks. They study automobile 
tire tracks. They make plaster of Paris impres- 
sions of these tracks. They follow the tracks — 
sometimes Indian fashion. Often there are pe- 
culiarities about the tracks which lead to the 
detection and punishment of the culprits. A 
horse may be shod in an unusual manner ; a man 
may have peculiar hob nails or rubber heels on 
his boots or else his footprints may show some 
deformity. The forest rangers play the parts of 
detectives very well. This novel police work has 
greatly reduced the number of incendiary fires. 

A forest fire may destroy in a few hours 
trees that required hundreds of years to grow. A 
heavy stand of timber may be reduced to a deso- 
late waste because some one forgot to put out 
a campfire. Occasionally large forest fires burn 
farm buildings and homes and kill hundreds of 
people. During the dry summer season when a 
strong wind is blowing, the fire will run for many 
miles. It always leaves woe and desolation in its 



THE GREATEST ENEMY OP THE FOREST— FIRE 55 

wake. A mammoth forest fire in Wisconsin 
many years ago burned over an area of two thou- 
sand square miles. It killed about fourteen 
hundred people and destroyed many millions of 
dollars worth of timber and other property. A 
big forest fire in Michigan laid waste a tract forty 
miles wide and one hundred and eighty miles 
long. More than four billion feet of lumber, 
worth $10,000,000, was destroyed and several 
hundred people lost their lives. In recent 
years, a destructive forest fire in Minnesota 
caused a loss of $25,000,000 worth of timber 
and property. 

There are several different kinds of forest 
fires. Some burn unseen two to four feet be- 
neath the surface of the ground. Where the soil 
contains much peat, these fires may persist for 
weeks or even months. Sometimes, they do not 
give off any noticeable smoke. Their fuel is the 
decaying wood, tree roots and similar material in 
the soil. These underground fires can be stopped 
only by flooding the area or by digging trenches 
down to the mineral soil. The most effectual 
way to fight light surface fires is to throw sand 
or earth on the flames. Where the fire has not 
made much headway, the flames can sometimes 



56 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

be beaten out with green branches, wet gunny 
sacks or blankets. The leaves and debris may 
be raked away in a path so as to impede 
their advance. 

Usually in the hardwood forests, there is not 
much cover, such as dry leaves, on the ground. 
Fires in these forests destroy the seedlings and 
saplings, but do not usually kill the mature trees. 
However, they damage the base of the trees and 
make it easy for fungi and insects to enter. They 
also burn the top soil and reduce the water- 
absorbing powers of the forest floor. In thick, 
dense evergreen forests where the carpet is heavy, 
fires are much more serious. They frequently 
kill the standing trees, burning trunks and 
branches and even following the roots deep into 
the ground. Dead standing trees and logs aid 
fires of this kind. The wind sweeps pieces of 
burning bark or rotten wood great distances to 
kindle new fires. When they fall, dead trees 
scatter sparks and embers over a wide belt. Fires 
also run along the tops of the coniferous trees 
high above the ground. These are called ' ' crown- 
fires" and are very difficult to control. 

The wind plays a big part in the intensity of 
a forest fire. If the fire can be turned so that it 



THE GREATEST ENEMY OF THE FOREST— EIRE 57 

will run into the wind, it can be put out more 
easily. Fires that have the wind back of them 
and plenty of dry fuel ahead, speed on their way 
of destruction at a velocity of 5 to 10 miles an 
hour, or more. They usually destroy everything 
in their course that will burn, and waste great 
amounts of valuable timber. Wild animals, in 
panic, run together before the flames. Settlers 
and farmers with their families flee. Many are 
overtaken in the mad flight and perish. The 
fierce fires of this type can be stopped only by 
heavy rain, a change of wind, or by barriers 
which provide no fuel and thus choke out 
the flames. 

Large fires are sometimes controlled by back- 
firing. A back-fire is a second fire built and so 
directed as to run against the wind and toward 
the main fire. When the two fires meet, both will 
go out on account of lack of fuel. When prop- 
erly used by experienced persons, back-fires are 
very effectual. In inexperienced hands they are 
dangerous, as the wind may change suddenly or 
they may be lighted too soon. In such cases they 
often become as great a menace as the main fire. 
Another practical system of fighting fires is to 
make fire lines around the burning area. These 



58 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

fire lines or lanes as they are sometimes called, 
are stretches of land from which all trees and 
shrubs have been removed. In the centre of the 
lines a narrow trench is dug to mineral soil or 
the lines are plowed or burned over so that they 
are bare of fuel. Such lines also are of value 
around woods and grain fields to keep the fire 
out. They are commonly used along railroad 
tracks where locomotive sparks are a constant 
source of fire dangers. 

Our forests, on account of their great size and 
the relatively small man force which guards them, 
are more exposed to fire dangers than any other 
woodlands in the world. The scant rainfall of 
many of the western states where great unbroken 
areas of forest are located increases the fire 
damages. The fact that the western country in 
many sections is sparsely settled favors destruc- 
tion by forest fires. The prevalence of lightning 
in the mountains during the summer adds far- 
ther to the danger. One of the most important 
tasks of the rangers in the Federal forests is to 
prevent forest fires. 

During the fire season, extra forest guards 
are kept busy hunting for signs of smoke through- 
out the forests. The lookouts in their high 



THE GREATEST ENEMY OF THE FOREST— FIRE 59 

towers, which overlook large areas of forest, 
watch constantly for smoke, and as soon as they 
locate signs of fire they notify the supervisor of 
the forest. Lookouts use special scientific instru- 
ments which enable them to locate the position of 
the fires from the smoke. At the supervisor's 
headquarters and the ranger stations scattered 
through the forests, equipment, horses and auto- 
mobiles are kept ready for instant use when a 
fire is reported. Telephone lines and radio sets 
are used to spread the news about fires that have 
broken out. 

From five thousand to six thousand forest 
fires occur each year in the National Forests of 
our country. To show how efficient the forest 
rangers are in fighting fires, it is worthy of note 
that by their prompt actions, 80 per cent, of these 
fires are confined to areas of less than ten acres 
each, while only 20 per cent, spread over areas 
larger than ten acres. Lightning causes from 25 
to 30 per cent, of the fires. The remaining 70 or 75 
per cent, are classed as "man-caused fires, ' ' which 
are set by campers, smokers, railroads, brush 
burners, sawmills and incendiaries. The total an- 
nual loss from forest fires in the Federal forests 
varies from a f ewhundred thousands of dollars in 



60 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

favorable years to several million in particularly 
bad fire seasons. During the last few years, due 
to efficient fire-fighting methods, the annual 
losses have been steadily reduced. 

The best way of fighting forest fires is to pre- 
vent them. The forest officers do their best to 
reduce the chances for fire outbreak in the Gov- 
ernment woodlands. They give away much dead 
timber that either has fallen or still is standing. 
Lumbermen who hold contracts to cut timber in 
the National Forest are required to pile and burn 
all the slashings. Dry grass is a serious fire men- 
ace. That is why grazing is encouraged in the 
forests. Rangers patrol the principal automo- 
bile roads to see that careless campers and tour- 
ists have not left burning campfires. Railroads 
are required to equip their locomotives with 
spark-arresters. They also are obliged to keep 
their rights of way free of material which burns 
readily. Spark-arresters are required also on 
logging engines. 

The National and State Forests are posted 
with signs and notices asking the campers and 
tourists to be careful with campfires, tobacco and 
matches. Advertisements are run in newspapers, 
warning people to be careful so as not to set fire 



THE GREATEST ENEMY OP THE FOREST— FIRE 61 

to the forests. Exhibits are made at fairs, shows, 
community meetings and similar gatherings, 
showing the dangers from forest fires and how 
these destructive conflagrations may be con- 
trolled. Every possible means is used to teach 
the public to respect and protect the forests. 

For many years, the United States Forest 
Service and State Forestry Departments have 
been keeping a record of forest fires and their 
causes. Studies have been made of the length 
and character of each fire season. Information 
has been gathered concerning the parts of the 
forest where lightning is most likely to strike 
or where campfires are likely to be left by tourists. 
The spots or zones of greatest fire danger are lo- 
cated in this way and more forest guards are 
placed in these areas during the dangerous fire 
season. Careful surveys of this kind are aiding 
greatly in reducing the number of forest fires. 

In trying to get all possible information about 
future weather conditions, the Forestry Depart- 
ments cooperate with the United States Weather 
Bureau. When the experts predict that long 
periods of dry weather or dangerous storms are 
approaching, the forest rangers are especially 
watchful, as during such times, the menace to 



62 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

the woods is greatest. The rangers also have 
big fire maps which they hang in their cabins. 
These maps show the location of dangerous fire 
areas, roads, trails, lookout-posts, cities, towns 
and ranches, sawmills, logging camps, telephone 
lines, fire tool boxes and other data of value to 
fire fighters. All this information is so arranged 
as to be readily available in time of need. It 
shows where emergency fire fighters, tools and 
food supplies can be secured, and how best to 
attack a fire in any certain district. A detailed 
plan for fighting forest fires is also prepared and 
kept on file at every ranger station. 

The following are six rules which, if put in 
practice, will help prevent outbreaks of fires : 

1. Matches. — Be sure your match is out. 
Break it in two before you throw it away. 

2. Tobacco. — Throw pipe ashes and cigar or 
cigarette stubs in the dust of the road and stamp 
or pinch out the fire before leaving them. Don't 
throw them into the brush, leaves or needles. 

3. Making camp. — Build a small campfire. 
Build it in the open, not against a tree or log, or 
near brush. Scrape away the trash from all 
around it. 

4. Leaving camp. — Never leave a campfire, 



THE GREATEST ENEMY OF THE FOREST— FIRE 63 

even for a short time, without quenching it with 
water or earth. Be sure it is OUT. 

5. Bonfires. — Never build bonfires in windy 
weather or where there is the slightest danger of 
their escaping from control. Don't make them 
larger than you need. 

6. Fighting fires. — If you find a fire, try to 
put it out. If you can't, get word of it to the 
nearest United States forest ranger or State fire 
warden at once. 

Remember " minutes count" in reporting 
forest fires. 



CHAPTER VII 

INSECTS AND DISEASES THAT DESTROY 
FORESTS 

Forest insects and tree diseases occasion 
heavy losses each year among the standing mar- 
ketable trees. Insects cause a total loss of more 
than $100,000,000 annually to the forest products 
of the United States. A great number of destruc- 
tive insects are constantly at work in the forests 
injuring or killing live trees or else attacking 
dead timber. Forest weevils kill tree seeds and 
destroy the young shoots on trees. Bark and 
timber beetles bore into and girdle trees and de- 
stroy the wood. Many borers and timber worms 
infest logs and lumber after they are cut and 
before they are removed from the forest. This 
scattered work of the insects here, there, 
and everywhere throughout the forests causes 
great damage. 

Different kinds of flies and moths deposit 
their eggs on the leaves of the trees. After the 
eggs hatch, the baby caterpillars feed on the 
tender, juicy leaves. Some of the bugs destroy all 

64 



INSECTS AND DISEASES THAT DESTROY FORESTS 65 

the leaves and thus remove an important means 
which the tree has of getting food and drink. 
Wire worms attack the roots of the tree. Leaf 
hoppers suck on the sap supply of the leaves. 
Leaf rollers cause the leaves to curl up and die. 
Trees injured by fire fall easy prey before the 
attacks of forest insects. It takes a healthy, 
sturdy tree to escape injury by these pirates of 
the forests. There are more than five hundred 
insects that attack oak trees and at least two hun- 
dred and fifty different species that carry on de- 
struction among the pines. 

Insect pests have worked so actively that 
many forests have lost practically all their best 
trees of certain species. Quantities of the largest 
spruce trees in the Adirondacks have been killed 
off by bark beetles. The saw-fly worm has killed 
off most of the mature larches in these eastern 
forests. As they travel over the National and 
State Forests, the rangers are always on the 
watch for signs of tree infection. Whenever 
they notice red-brown masses of pitch and saw- 
dust on the bark of the trees, they know that 
insects are busy there. Where the needles of a 
pine or spruce turn yellow or red, the presence of 
bark beetles is shown. Signs of pitch on the bark 



66 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

of coniferous trees are the first symptoms of 
infection. These beetles bore through the bark 
and into the wood. There they lay eggs. The 
parent beetles soon die but their children con- 
tinue the work of burrowing in the wood. Fin- 
ally, they kill the tree by making a complete cut 
around the trunk through the layers of wood 
that act as waiters to carry the food from the 
roots to the trunk, branches and leaves. The next 
spring these young develop into full-grown 
beetles and come out from the diseased tree. 
They then attack new trees. 

When the forest rangers find evidences of 
serious infection, they cut down the diseased 
trees. They strip the bark from the trunk and 
branches and burn it in the fall or winter when 
the beetles are working in the bark and can be 
destroyed most easily. If the infection of trees 
extends over a large tract, and there is a nearby 
market for the lumber the timber is sold as soon 
as possible. Trap trees are also used in con- 
trolling certain species of injurious forest insects. 
Certain trees are girdled with an ax so that they 
will become weakened or die, and thus provide 
easy means of entrance for the insects. The 
beetles swarm to such trees in great numbers. 



INSECTS AND DISEASES THAT DESTROY FORESTS 67 

When the tree is full of insects, it is cut down 
and burned. In this way, infections which are 
not too severe can often be remedied. 

The bark-boring beetles are the most destruc- 
tive insects that attack our forests. They have 
wasted enormous tracts of pine timber through- 
out the southern states. The eastern spruce 
beetle has destroyed countless feet of spruce. 
The Engelmann spruce beetle has devastated 
many forests of the Rocky Mountains. The 
Black Hills beetle has killed billions of feet of 
marketable timber in the Black Hills of South 
Dakota. The hickory bark beetle, the Douglas 
fir beetle and the larch worm have been very 
destructive. 

Forest fungi cause most of the forest tree 
diseases. A tree disease is any condition that pre- 
vents the tree from growing and developing in 
a normal, healthy manner. Acid fumes from 
smelters, frost, sunscald, dry or extremely wet 
weather, all limit the growth of trees. Leaf dis- 
eases lessen the food supplies of the trees. Bark 
diseases prevent the movement of the food sup- 
plies. Sapwood ailments cut off the water supply 
that rises from the roots. Seed and flower dis- 



68 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

eases prevent the trees from producing more of 
their kind. 

Most of the tree parasites can gain entrance 
to the trees only through knots and wounds. 
Infection usually occurs through wounds in the 
tree trunk or branches caused by lightning, fire, 
or by men or animals. The cone-bearing trees 
give off pitch to cover such wounds. In this way 
they protect the injuries against disease infection. 
The hardwood trees are unable to protect their 
wounds as effectively as the evergreens. Where 
the wound is large, the exposed sapwood dies, 
dries out, and cracks. The fungi enter these 
cracks and work their way to the heartwood. 
Many of the fungi cannot live unless they reach 
the heartwood of the tree. Fires wound the base 
and trunks of forest trees severely so that they 
are exposed to serious destruction by heartrot. 

Foresters try to locate and dispose of all the 
diseased trees in the State and Government for- 
ests. They strive to remove all the sources of 
tree disease from the woods. They can grow 
healthy trees if all disease germs are kept away 
from the timberlands. Some tree diseases have 
become established so strongly in forest regions 
that it is almost impossible to drive them out. 



INSECTS AND DISEASES THAT DESTROY FORESTS 69 

For example, chestnut blight is a fungous dis- 
ease that is killing many of our most valuable 
chestnut trees. The fungi of this disease worm 
their way through the holes in the bark of the 
trees, and spread around the trunk. Diseased 
patches or cankers form on the limbs or trunk of 
the tree. After the canker forms on the trunk, 
the tree soon dies. Chestnut blight has killed 
most of the chestnut trees in New York and 
Pennsylvania. It is now active in Virginia and 
West Virginia and is working its way down into 
North and South Carolina. 

Diseased trees are a menace to the forest. 
They rob the healthy trees of space, light and 
food. That is why it is necessary to remove them 
as soon as they are discovered. In the smaller 
and older forests of Europe, tree surgery and 
doctoring are practised widely. Wounds are 
treated and cured and the trees are pruned and 
sprayed at regular intervals. In our extensive 
woods such practices are too expensive. All the 
foresters can do is to cut down the sick trees in 
order to save the ones that are sound. 

There is a big difference between tree dam- 
ages caused by forest insects and those caused 
by forest fungi and mistletoe. The insects are 



70 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

always present in the forest. However, it is only 
occasionally that they concentrate and work great 
injury and damage in any one section. At rare 
intervals, some very destructive insects may 
centre their work in one district. They will 
kill a large number of trees in a short time. 
They continue their destruction until some 
natural agency puts them to flight. The fungi, 
on the other hand, develop slowly and work over 
long periods. Sudden outbreaks of fungous 
diseases are unusual. 

Heavy snows, lightning and wind storms also 
lay low many of the tree giants of the forest. 
Heavy falls of snow may weigh down the young, 
tall trees to such an extent that they break. 
Lightning — it is worst in the hills and mountains 
of the western states — may strike and damage 
a number of trees in the same vicinity. If these 
trees are not killed outright, they are usually 
damaged so badly that forest insects and fungi 
complete their destruction. 

Big trees are sometimes uprooted during 
forest storms so that they fall on younger trees 
and cripple and deform them. Winds benefit 
the forests in that they blow down old trees that 
are no longer of much use and provide space for 



INSECTS AND DISEASES THAT DESTROY FORESTS 71 

younger and healthier trees to grow. Usually 
the trees that are blown down have shallow roots 
or else are situated in marshy, wet spots so that 
their root-hold in the soil is not secure. Trees 
that have been exposed to fire are often weakened 
and blown down easily. 

Where excessive livestock grazing is per- 
mitted in young forests considerable damage 
may result. Goats, cattle and sheep injure young 
seedlings by browsing. They eat the tender 
shoots of the trees. The trampling of sheep, espe- 
cially on steep hills, damages the very young 
trees. On mountain sides the trampling of sheep 
frequently breaks up the forest floor of sponge- 
like grass and debris and thus aids freshets and 
floods. In the Alps of France sheep grazing de- 
stroyed the mountain forests and, later on, the 
grass which replaced the woods. Destructive 
floods resulted. It has cost the French people 
many millions of dollars to repair the damage 
done by the sheep. 

The Federal Government does its best to keep 
foreign tree diseases out of the United States. 
As soon as any serious disease is discovered in 
foreign countries the Secretary of Agriculture 
puts in force a quarantine against that country. 



72 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

No seed or tree stock can be imported. Further- 
more, all the new species of trees, cuttings or 
plants introduced to this country are given thor- 
ough examination and inspection by government 
experts at the ports where the products are re- 
ceived from abroad. All diseased trees are fumi- 
gated, or if found diseased, destroyed. In this 
manner the Government protects our country 
against new diseases which might come to our 
shores on foreign plants and tree stock. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE GROWTH OF THE FORESTRY IDEA 

Our forests of the New World were so abun- 
dant when the early settlers landed on the Atlan- 
tic Coast that it was almost impossible to find 
enough cleared land in one tract to make a 40-acre 
farm. These thick, dense timberlands extended 
westward to the prairie country. It was but 
natural, therefore, that the forest should be con- 
sidered by these pioneers as an obstacle and 
viewed as an enemy. Farms and settlements had 
to be hewed out of the timberlands, and the for- 
ests seemed inexhaustible. 

Experts say that the original, virgin forests 
of the United States covered approximately 
822,000,000 acres. They are now shrunk to one- 
sixth of that area. At one time they were the 
richest forests in the world. Today there are 
millions of acres which contain neither timber 
nor young growth. Considerable can be restored 
if the essential measures are started on a national 
scale. Such measures would insure an ade- 
quate lumber supply for all time to come. 

73 



74 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Eules and regulations concerning the cutting 
of lumber and the misuse of forests were sug- 
gested as early as the seventeenth century. Ply- 
mouth Colony in 1626 passed an ordinance 
prohibiting the cutting of timber from the Col- 
ony lands without official consent. This is said 
to be the first conservation law passed in America. 
William Penn was one of the early champions 
of the " Woodman, spare that tree" slogan. He 
ordered his colonists to leave one acre of forest 
for every five acres of land that were cleared. 

In 1799 Congress set aside $200,000 for the 
purchase of a small forest reserve to be used as 
a supply source of ship timbers for the Navy. 
About twenty-five years later, it gave the Presi- 
dent the power to call upon the Army and Navy 
whenever necessary to protect the live oak and 
red cedar timber so selected in Florida. In 1827, 
the Government started its first work in forestry. 
It was an attempt to raise live oak in the South- 
ern States to provide ship timbers for the Navy. 
Forty years later, the Wisconsin State Legis- 
lature began to investigate the destruction of the 
forests of that state in order to protect them and 
prolong their life. Michigan and Maine, in turn, 
followed suit. These were some of the first steps 



THE GROWTH OF THE FORESTRY IDEA 75 

taken to study our forests and protect them 
against possible extinction. 

The purpose of the Timber Culture Act 
passed by Congress in 1873 was to increase na- 
tional interest in reforestation. It provided that 
every settler who would plant and maintain 40 
acres of timber in the treeless sections should be 
entitled to secure patent for 160 acres of the pub- 
lic domain — that vast territory consisting of all 
the states and territories west of the Mississippi, 
except Texas, as well as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Alabama and 
Mississippi. This act, as well as several State 
laws, failed because the settlers did not know 
enough about tree planting. The laws also were 
not effective because they did not prevent dis- 
honest practices. 

In 1876, the first special agent in forestry was 
appointed by the Commissioner of Agriculture 
to study the annual consumption, exportation 
and importation of timber and other forest pro- 
ducts, the probable supply for future wants, and 
the means best adapted for forest preservation. 
Five years, later, the Division of Forestry was 
organized as a branch of the Department of Agri- 
culture. It was established in order to carry on 



76 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

investigations about forestry and how to preserve 
our trees. 

For some nine years the Division of Forestry 
was nothing more than a department of informa- 
tion. It distributed technical facts and figures 
about the management of private woodlands and 
collected data concerning our forest resources. 
It did not manage any of the Government timber- 
lands because there were no forest reserves at 
that time. It was not until 1891 that the first 
forest reserve, the Yellowstone Park Timberland 
Reserve, was created by special proclamation of 
President Harrison. Later it became part of 
the National Park reserves. Although the Divi- 
sion of Forestry had no special powers to oversee 
and direct the management of the forest reserves, 
during the next six years a total of 40,000,000 
acres of valuable timberland were so designated 
and set aside. At the request of the Secretary of 
the Interior, the National Academy of Sciences 
therefore worked out a basis for laws governing 
national forests. Congress enacted this law in 
1897. Thereafter the Department of the Inte- 
rior had active charge of the timberlands. At 
that time little was known scientifically about the 



THE GROWTH OF THE FORESTRY IDEA 77 

American forests. There were no schools of for- 
estry in this country. During the period 1898- 
1903, several such schools were established. 

President McRinley, during his term of office, 
increased the number of forest reserves from 
28 to over 40, covering a total area of 30,000,000 
acres. President Roosevelt added many millions 
of acres to the forest reserves, bringing the net 
total to more than 150,000,000 acres, including 
159 different forests. In 1905, the administra- 
tion of the forest reserves was transferred from 
the Department of the Interior to the Department 
of Agriculture, and their name changed to Na- 
tional Forests. No great additions to the govern- 
ment timberlands have been made since that time. 
Small, valuable areas have been added. Other 
undesirable tracts have been cut off from the 
original reserves. 

The growth of the Division of Forestry, now 
the United States Forest Service, has been very 
remarkable since 1898, when it consisted of only 
a few scientific workers and clerks. At present it 
employs more than 2,600 workers, which number 
is increased during the dangerous fire season to 
from 4,000 to 5,000 employees. The annual ap- 



78 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

propriations have been increased from $28,500 
to approximately $6,500,000. The annual income 
from Uncle Sam's woodlands is also on the gain 
and now amounts to about $5,000,000 yearly. 
This income results largely from the sale of 
timber and the grazing of livestock on the 
National Forests. 



CHAPTER IX 
OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 

Our National Forests include 147 distinct and 
separate bodies of timber in twenty-seven differ- 
ent states and in Alaska and Porto Rico. They 
cover more than 156,000,000 acres. If they could 
be massed together in one huge area like the state 
of Texas, it would make easier the task of hand- 
ling the forests and fighting fires. The United 
States Forest Service, which has charge of their 
management and protection, is one of the largest 
and most efficient organizations of its kind in the 
world. It employs expert foresters, scientists, 
rangers and clerks. 

The business of running the forest is centred 
in eight district offices located in different parts 
of the country with a general headquarters at 
Washington, D. C. These districts are in charge 
of district foresters and their assistants. 

The district headquarters and the States that 
they look after are : 

No. 1. Northern District, Missoula, Montana. 
(Montana, northeastern Washington, 

79 



80 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

northern Idaho, and northwestern South 
Dakota.) 

No. 2. Rocky Mountain District, Denver, Colo- 
rado. (Colorado, Wyoming, the remain- 
der of South Dakota, Nebraska, northern 
Michigan, and northern Minnesota.) 

No. 3. Southwestern District, Albuquerque, 
New Mexico. (Most of Arizona and New 
Mexico.) 

No. 4. Intermountain District, Ogden, Utah. 
(Utah, southern Idaho, western Wyo- 
ming, eastern and central Nevada, and 
northwestern Arizona.) 

No. 5. California District, San Francisco, Cali- 
fornia. (California and southwestern 
Nevada.) 

No. 6. North Pacific District, Portland, Oregon. 
(Washington and Oregon.) 

No. 7. Eastern District, Washington, D. C. 
(Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, New 
Hampshire, Maine, and Porto Rico.) 

No. 8. Alaska District, Juneau, Alaska. 
(Alaska.) 
Each of the National Forests is under the 



OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 81 

direct supervision of a forest supervisor and is 
split up into from 5 to 10 or more ranger dis- 
tricts. Each ranger district is in charge of a 
forest ranger who has an area of from 100,000 
to 200,000 acres in his charge. 

The National Forests are, for the most part, 
located in the mountainous region of the West, 
with small scattered areas in the Lake States, 
and the White Mountains, Southern Appala- 
chians and Ozarks of the Eastern and Southern 
States. Many of them are a wilderness of dense 
timber. It is a huge task to protect these forests 
against the ravages of fire. Eire fighting takes 
precedence over all other work in the National 
Forests. Lookout stations are established on 
high points to watch for signs of fire. Airplanes 
are used on fire patrol over great areas of forest. 
Where railroads pass through the National For- 
ests, rangers operate motor cars and hand-cars 
over the tracks in their patrol work. Launches 
are used in Alaska and on some of the forests 
where there are large lakes, to enable the fire 
fighters and forest guardians to cover their beats 
quickly. Every year the National Forests are 
being improved and made more accessible by the 
building of permanent roads, trails and telephone 



82 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

lines. Special trails are built to and in the fire 
protection areas of remote sections. A network 
of good roads is constructed in every forest to 
improve fire fighting activities as well as to afford 
better means of communication between towns, 
settlements and farms. The road and trail 
plan followed in the National Forests is mapped 
out years in advance. In the more remote sec- 
tions, trails are first constructed. Later, these 
trails may be developed into wagon or motor 
roads. Congress annually appropriates large 
sums of money for the building of roads in the 
National Forests. Over 25,000 miles of roads 
and 35,000 miles of trails have already been con- 
structed in these forests. 

Communication throughout the National For- 
ests is had by the use of the telephone and the 
radio or wireless telephone. Signalling by means 
of the heliograph is practiced on bright days in 
regions that have no telephones. Arrangements 
made with private telephone companies permit 
the forest officers to use their lines. The efficient 
communication systems aid in the administration 
of the forests and speeds the work of gathering 
fire fighters quickly at the points where smoke 
is detected. 



OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 83 

Agricultural and forestry experts have sur- 
veyed the lands in the National Forests. Thus 
they have prevented the use of lands for forestry 
purposes which are better adapted for farming. 
Since 1910, more than 26,500,000 acres of lands 
have been excluded from the forests. These lands 
were more useful for farming or grazing than 
for forestry. Practically all lands within the 
National Forests have now been examined and 
classified. At intervals Congress has combined 
several areas of forest lands into single tracts. 
Government lands outside the National Forests 
have also been traded for state or private lands 
within their boundaries. Thus the forests have 
been lined-up in more compact bodies. Careful 
surveys are made before such trades are closed 
to make sure that the land given to Uncle Sam 
is valuable for timber production and the protec- 
tion of stream flow, and that the Government 
receives full value for the land that is exchanged. 

The National Forests contain nearly five hun- 
dred billion board feet of merchantable timber. 
This is 23 per cent, of the remaining timber in the 
country. Whenever the trees in the forest reach 
maturity they are sold and put to use. All green 
trees to be cut are selected by qualified forest 



84 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

officers and blazed and marked with a "U.S." 
This marking is done carefully so as to protect 
the forest and insure a future crop of trees on 
the area. Timber is furnished at low rates to 
local farmers, settlers, and stockmen for use in 
making improvements. Much fire wood and dead 
and down timber also is given away. The re- 
moval of such material lessens the fire danger 
in the forest. 

Over a billion feet of timber, valued at more 
than $3,000,000, is sold annually from the Na- 
tional Forests. 

One generally does not think of meat, leather 
and wool as forest crops. Nevertheless, the 
National Forests play an important part in the 
western livestock industry. Experts report that 
over one-fifth of the cattle and one-half of the 
sheep of the western states are grazed in the 
National Forests. These livestock are estimated 
to be worth nearly one-quarter billion dollars. 
More than 9,500,000 head of livestock are pas- 
tured annually under permit in the Federal 
forests. In addition, some 4,000,000 to 6,000,000 
calves and lambs are grazed free of charge. 

The ranges suitable for stock grazing are used 
to pasture sheep, cattle, horses, hogs and goats. 



OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 85 

The Secretary of Agriculture decides what num- 
ber and what kind of animals shall graze on each 
forest. He regulates the grazing and prevents 
injury to the ranges from being overstocked with 
too many cattle and sheep. The forest ranges are 
divided into grazing units. Generally, the cattle 
and horses are grazed in the valleys and on the 
lower slopes of the mountain. The sheep and 
goats are pastured on the high mountain sides and 
in the grassy meadows at or above timberline. 

Preferences to graze live stock on the forest 
ranges are for the most part granted to stockmen 
who own improved ranch property and live in or 
near one of the National Forests. The fee for 
grazing on forest ranges is based on a yearlong 
rate of $1.20 a head of cattle, $1.50 for horses, 
$.90 for hogs and $.30 a head for sheep. 

At times it is necessary, for short periods, to 
prohibit grazing on the Government forest 
ranges. For example, when mature timber has 
been cut from certain areas, it is essential that 
sheep be kept off: such tracts until the young 
growth has made a good start in natural refor- 
estation. Camping grounds needed for recrea- 
tion purposes by the public are excluded from the 
grazing range. If a shortage of the water supply 



86 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

of a neighboring town or city threatens, or if 
floods or erosion become serious due to fire or 
overgrazing of the land, the range is closed to 
live-stock and allowed to recuperate. Where arti- 
ficial planting is practiced, grazing is often 
forbidden until the young trees get a good start. 

The total receipts which Uncle Sam collects 
from the 30,000 or more stockmen who graze 
their cattle and sheep on the National Forests 
amount to nearly $2,500,000 annually. As a 
result of the teachings of the Forest Service, the 
stockmen are now raising better livestock. Im- 
proved breeding animals are kept in the herds 
and flocks. Many of the fat stock now go directly 
from the range to the market. Formerly, most 
of the animals had to be fed on corn and grain 
in some of the Middle Western States to flesh 
them for market. Experiments have been car- 
ried on which have shown the advantages of 
new feeding and herding methods. The ranchers 
have banded together in livestock associations, 
which cooperate with the Forest Service in man- 
aging the forest ranges. 

It costs about $ 5 to sow one acre of ground to 
tree seed, and approximately $10 an acre to set 
out seedling trees. The seed is obtained from 



OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 87 

the same locality where it is to be planted. In 
many instances, cones are purchased from set- 
tlers who make a business of gathering them. 
The Federal foresters dry these cones in the sun 
and thresh out the seed, which they then fan and 
clean. If it is desired to store supplies of tree 
seed from year to year it is kept in sacks or jars, 
in a cool, dry place, protected from rats and mice. 
Where seed is sown directly on the ground, poison 
bait must be scattered over the area in order to 
destroy the gophers, mice and chipmunks which 
otherwise would eat the seed. Sowing seed 
broadcast on unprepared land has usually failed 
unless the soil and weather conditions were just 
right. For the most part, setting out nursery 
seedlings has given better results than direct 
seeding. Two men can set out between five hun- 
dred and one thousand trees a day. 

The National Forests contain about one mil- 
lion acres of denuded forest lands. Much of 
this was cut-over and so severely burned before 
the creation of the forests that it bears no tree 
growth. Some of these lands will reseed them- 
selves naturally while other areas have to be 
seeded or planted by hand. In this way the 
lands that will produce profitable trees are fitted 



88 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

to support forest cover. Because the soils and 
climate of our National Forests are different, 
special experiments have been carried on in 
different places to decide the best practices to 
follow. Two method of reforestation are com- 
monly practiced. In some places, the tree seed 
is sown directly upon the ground and, thereafter, 
may or may not be cultivated. This method is 
limited to the localities where the soil and moist- 
ure conditions are favorable for rapid growth. 
Under the other plan, the seedlings are grown in 
nurseries for several years under favorable con- 
ditions. They are then moved to the field and 
set out in permanent plantations. 



CHAPTER X 
THE NATIONAL FORESTS OF ALASKA 

There are two great National Forests in 
Alaska. They cover 20,579,740 acres or about 5% 
per cent, of the total area of Alaska. The larger 
of these woodlands, the Tongass National Forest, 
is estimated to contain 70,000,000,000 board feet 
of timber ripe for marketing. Stands of 100,000 
board feet per acre are not infrequent. This is 
the Alaskan forest that will some day be shipping 
large amounts of timber to the States. It has 
over 12,000 miles of shore line and ninety per 
cent, of the usable timber is within two miles of 
tidewater. This makes it easy to log the timber 
and load the lumber directly from the forests to 
the steamers. This forest is 1500 miles closer to 
the mainland markets than is the other Alaskan 
National Forest. 

In most of the National Forests the rangers 
ride around their beats on horseback. The for- 
esters in the Tongass use motor boats. They 
travel in couples ; two men to a 35-foot boat, which 
is provided with comfortable eating and sleeping 



90 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

quarters. The rangers live on the boat all the 
time. During the summer they work sixteen to 
twenty hours daily. The days are long and the 
nights short, and they must travel long distances 
between points of work. On such runs one man 
steers the boat and watches the forested shore- 
line for three or four hours at a time, while his 
mate reads or sleeps ; then they change off. In this 
way, they are able to make the most efficient use of 
the long periods of daylight. 

The other big timberland in Alaska is the 
Chugach National Forest. It is a smaller edition 
of the Tongass Forest. Its trees are not so large 
and the stand of timber only about one-half as 
heavy as in the Tongass. Experts estimate that 
it contains 7,000,000,000 board feet of lumber. 
Western hemlock predominates. There is also 
much spruce, poplar and birch. Stands of 
40,000 to 50,000 feet of lumber an acre are not 
unusual. In the future, the lumber of the Chu- 
gach National Forest will play an important part 
in the industrial life of Alaska. Even now, it 
is used by the fishing, mining, railroad and agri- 
cultural interests. On account of its great dis- 
tance from the markets of the Pacific Northwest 



THE NATIONAL FORESTS OP ALASKA 91 

it will be a long time before lumber from this 
forest will be exported. 

The timber in the Tongass National Forest 
runs 60 per cent, western hemlock and 20 per 
cent. Sitka spruce. The other 20 per cent, con- 
sists of western red cedar, yellow cypress, lodge- 
pole pine, cottonwood and white fir. The yellow 
cypress is very valuable for cabinet making. 
All these species except the cedar are suitable 
for pulp manufacture. Peculiarly enough, con- 
siderable of the lumber used in Alaska for box 
shooks in the canneries and in building work is 
imported from the United States. The local 
residents do not think their native timber is as 
good as that which they import. 

Alaska will probably develop into one of the 
principal paper sources of the United States. 
Our National Forests in Alaska contain approxi- 
mately 100,000,000 cords of timber suitable for 
paper manufacture. Experts report that these 
forests could produce 2,000,000 cords of pulp- 
wood annually for centuries without depletion. 
About 6,000,000 tons of pulpwood annually are 
now required to keep us supplied with enough 
paper. The Tongass National Forest could easily 
supply one-third of this amount indefinitely. 



92 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

This forest is also rich in water power. It would 
take more than 250,000 horses to produce as much 
power as that which the streams and rivers of 
southern Alaska supply. 

The western hemlock and Sitka spruce are the 
best for paper making. The spruce trees are 
generally sound and of good quality. The hem- 
lock trees are not so good, being subject to decay 
at the butts. This often causes fluted trunks. 
The butt logs from such trees usually are inferior. 
This defect in the hemlock reduces its market 
value to about one-half that of the spruce for 
paper making. Some of the paper mills in 
British Columbia are now using these species of 
pulpwood and report that they make high- 
grade paper. 

The pulp logs are floated down to the paper 
mill. In the mill the bark is removed from the 
logs. Special knives remove all the knots and 
cut the logs into pieces twelve inches long and six 
inches thick. These sticks then pass into a pow- 
erful grinding machine which tears them into 
small chips. The chips are cooked in special 
steamers until they are soft. The softened chips 
are beaten to pieces in large vats until they form 
a pasty pulp. The pulp is spread over an endless 



THE NATIONAL FORESTS OF ALASKA 93 

belt of woven wire cloth of small mesh. The 
water runs off and leaves a sheet of wet pulp 
which then is run between a large number of 
heated and polished steel cylinders which press 
and dry the pulp into sheets of paper. Finally, 
it is wound into large rolls ready for commer- 
cial use. 

If a pulp and paper industry is built up in 
Alaska, it will be of great benefit to that northern 
country. It will increase the population by 
creating a demand for more labor. It will aid 
the farming operations by making a home market 
for their products. It will improve transporta- 
tion and develop all kinds of business. 

Altogether 420,000,000 feet of lumber have 
been cut and sold from the national forests of 
Alaska in the past ten years. This material has 
been made into such products as piling, saw logs 
and shingle bolts. All this lumber has been used 
in Alaska and none of it has been exported. Much 
of the timber was cut so that it would fall almost 
into tide- water. Then the logs were fastened to- 
gether in rafts and towed to the sawmills. One 
typical raft of logs contained more than 1,500,000 
feet of lumber. It is not unusual for spruce trees 



94 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

in Alaska to attain a diameter of from six to nine 
feet and to contain 10,000 or 15,000 feet of lumber. 
Southeastern Alaska has many deep-water 
harbors which are open the year round. Practi- 
cally all the timber in that section is controlled by 
the Government and is within the Tongass Na- 
tional Forest. This means that this important 
crop will be handled properly. No waste of 
material will occur. Cutting will be permitted 
only where the good of the forest justifies 
such work. 



CHAPTER XI 

PROGRESS IN STATE FORESTRY 
The rapid depletion and threatened exhaus- 
tion of the timber supply in the more thickly 
populated sections of the East has prompted 
several of the states to initiate action looking 
toward the conservation of their timber resources. 
As far back as 1880, a forestry commission was 
appointed in New Hampshire to formulate a 
forest policy for the State. Vermont took simi- 
lar action two years later, followed within the 
next few years by many of the northeastern and 
lake states. 

These commissions were mainly boards of 
inquiry, for the purpose of gathering reliable 
information upon which to report, with recom- 
mendations, for the adoption of a state forest 
policy. As a result of the inquiries, forestry 
departments were established in a number of 
states. The report of the New York Commission 
of 1884 resulted in forest legislation, in 1885, 
creating a forestry department and providing for 
the acquisition of state forests. Liberal appro- 

95 



96 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

priations were made from time to time for this 
purpose, until now the state forests embrace near- 
ly 2,000,000 acres, the largest of any single state. 

New York state forests were created, espe- 
cially, for the protection of the Adirondack and 
Catskill regions as great camping and hunting 
grounds, and not for timber production. The 
people of the state were so fearful that through 
political manipulation this vast forest resource 
might fall into the hands of the timber exploiters, 
that a constitutional amendment was proposed 
and adopted, absolutely prohibiting the cutting 
of green timber from the state lands. Thus, 
while New York owns large areas of state forest 
land, it is unproductive so far as furnishing 
timber supplies to the state is concerned. It is 
held distinctly for the recreation it affords to 
campers and hunters, and contains many famous 
summer resorts. 

State forestry in Pennsylvania began in 1887, 
when a commision was appointed to study condi- 
tions, resulting in .the establishment of a Com- 
mission of Forestry in 1895. Two years later, an 
act was passed providing for the purchase of 
state forests. At the present time, Pennsylvania 
has 1,250,000 acres of state forest land. Unlike 



PROGRESS IN STATE FORESTRY 97 

those of New York, Pennsylvania forests were 
acquired and are managed primarily for timber 
production, although the recreational uses are 
not overlooked. 

The large areas of state-owned lands in the 
Lake States suitable, mainly, for timber grow- 
ing, enabled this section to create extensive state 
forests without the necessity of purchase as was 
the case in New York and Pennsylvania. As 
a result, Wisconsin has nearly 400,000 acres of 
state forest land, Minnesota, about 330,000, and 
Michigan, about 200,000 acres. South Dakota, 
with a relatively small area of forest land, has 
set aside 80,000 acres for state forest. A number 
of other states have initiated a policy of 
acquiring state forest lands, notably, New Hamp- 
shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New 
Jersey, Maryland, and Indiana, each with small 
areas, but likely to be greatly increased within 
the next few years under the development of 
present policies. Other states are falling in line 
with this forward movement. There are but 
4,237,587 acres in state forests in the United 
States. This is only iy 2 per cent, of the cut-over 
and denuded land in the country which is useful 
only for tree production. The lack of funds pre- 



98 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

vents many states from embarking more exten- 
sively in this work. Many states set aside only a 
few thousand a year ; others, that are more pro- 
gressive and realize the need of forestry exten- 
sion, spend annually from one hundred thousand 
to five hundred thousand dollars. Foresters are, 
generally, agreed that as much as 25 per cent, of 
the forest land of every state should be publicly 
owned for producing large sized timber, requir- 
ing seventy-five to one hundred years to grow, 
and which the private owner would not be inter- 
ested in producing. National, state, or commu- 
nal forests must supply it. All of these combined 
comprise a very small part of the forests of most 
of the states, so that much larger areas must be ac- 
quired by the states and the national government 
to safeguard our future timber supplies. 

Not less than thirty-two states are actually 
engaged in state forestry work. Many of them 
have well-organized forestry departments, which, 
in states like New York and Pennsylvania, hav- 
ing large areas of state forests, are devoted 
largely to the care and protection of these lands. 
In other states having no state forests, the work 
is largely educational in character. 

The most notable progress in forestry has 



PROGRESS IN STATE FORESTRY 99 

been made in fire protection. All states having 
forestry departments lay especial emphasis upon 
forest protection, since it is recognized that only 
by protecting the forests from fire is it possible 
to succeed in growing timber crops. In fact, in 
most cases, the prevention of fire in itself is 
sufficient to insure re-growth and productive 
forests. Pennsylvania is spending $500,000 an- 
nually in protecting her forests from fire. The 
cooperation of the Federal Government, under 
a provision of the Weeks Law which appropri- 
ates small sums of money for forest protection, 
provided the state will appropriate an equal or 
greater amount, has done much to encourage the 
establishment of systems of forest protection in 
many of the states. 

The enormous areas of denuded, or waste 
land in the various states, comprising more than 
80,000,000 acres, which can be made again pro- 
ductive only by forest planting, present another 
big problem in state forestry. Many of the 
states have established state forestry nurseries 
for the growing of tree seedlings to plant up these 
lands. The trees are either given away, or sold 
at cost, millions being distributed each year, indi- 



100 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

eating a live interest and growing sentiment in 
re-foresting waste lands. 

The appalling waste of timber resources 
through excessive and reckless cutting, amount- 
ing to forest devastation, is deplorable, but we 
are helpless to prevent it. Since the bulk of 
woodlands are privately owned, and there are no 
effective laws limiting the cutting of timber with 
a view to conserving the supply, the only means 
of bringing about regulated cutting on private 
lands is through cooperation with the owners. 
This is being done in some of the states in a lim- 
ited way, through educational methods, involving 
investigations, reports, demonstrations, and other 
means of bringing improved forestry practices 
to the attention of existing owners and enlist- 
ing their cooperation and support in forest 
conservation. 

Forestry in the state, or in the nation, seems 
to progress no more rapidly than the timber dis- 
appears ; in fact, the individual states do not take 
precaution to conserve their timber supplies until 
exhaustion is threatened. The damage has been 
largely done before the remedy is considered. 
We are today paying a tremendous toll for our 
lack of foresight in these matters. As a timber 



PROGRESS IN STATE FORESTRY 101 

producing state becomes a timber importing 
state, (a condition existing in most of the eastern 
and middle states) we begin to pay a heavy toll 
in the loss of home industries dependent upon 
wood, and also in heavy freight charges on lum- 
ber that we must import from distant points to 
supply our needs. In many states, the expendi- 
ture of an amount for reforestation and fire pro- 
tection equal to this freight bill on imported 
lumber would make the state self-supporting in 
a decade, instead of becoming worse off each year. 
Marked progress has been made along the 
lines indicated, but few of the states have begun 
to measure up to their full responsibility in pro- 
tecting their future timber supply. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE PLAYGROUNDS OF THE NATION 
The public forests are steadily increasing in 
popularity as the playgrounds of the Nation. 
The woodlands offer splendid opportunities for 
camping, hunting, fishing and outdoor life. Mil- 
lions of motorists now spend their vacations in 
the government and state forests. Railroads and 
automobiles make the forests accessible to all. 
Thousands of miles of improved motor highways 
lead into the very heart of the hills. More than 
5,500,000 people annually visit the National 
Forests. Of this number, some 2,500,000 are 
campers, fishermen and hunters. 

The forests provide cheap health insurance 
to all who will enjoy what they offer in sport and 
recreation. For example, over 1,000,000 vaca- 
tionists visit Colorado 's forests each year. If each 
person spent but five days in the forests, this 
would mean a total of 5,000,000 days or 50,000,000 
hours of rest and enjoyment. Recreation at the 
beaches and amusement parks costs at least fifty 
cents an hour. Applying that rate to the free fun 

102 



THE PLAYGROUNDS OF THE NATION 103 

which the people get out of the forests, in Colo- 
rado in one year the tourists, campers and fisher- 
men gained $25,000,000 worth of pleasure from 
the forests. 

The National and State Forests furnish sum- 
mer homes for thousands of people who live in 
the neighboring cities and towns. Regular 
summer home sites are laid off in many of the 
forests. Usually these individual sites cover 
about one-quarter acre or less. They rent for $5 
to $25 a year, depending on the location. A man 
can rent one of these camp grounds for a term of 
years. He can build a summer cottage or bunga- 
low on it. There are no special rules about the 
size or cost of the houses. Uncle Sam requires 
only that the cottages be sightly and the 
surroundings be kept clean and sanitary. Many 
of the cabins are built for $150 to $300. Some of 
them are more permanent and cost from $3,000 
to $5,000 or $10,000. In the Angeles National 
Forest in southern California, over sixteen hun- 
dred of these cottages are now in use and many 
more are being built. 

Where there are dead or mature trees in the 
forest, near summer home sites, timber can be 
purchased at low prices for use in building 



104 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

cottages. Even the people of small means 
can build cabins in the forests and enjoy 
living in the mountains during the heat of the 
summer. These camps provide fine surround- 
ings for the rompings and summer games of the 
children and young people. 

In California a number of cities have set up 
municipal camps in the National Forests. At 
very low costs, the city residents can spend their 
vacations at these camps. Tents and cottages 
are provided. Facilities for all kinds of games 
and sports furnish recreation. Each family 
may stay at the camp for two weeks. The ex- 
penses are so low for meals and tents that the 
municipal camps furnish the best and cheapest 
vacation which the family of limited means can 
enjoy. These camps are very popular. Wher- 
ever they have been tried, they have been suc- 
cessful. There are twelve municipal camps in 
California. They cost $150,000. 

Fine automobile camps are maintained along 
many of the important National and State Forest 
highways for the use of tourists. Concrete fire- 
places, tables, benches and running water are 
provided at these wayside camping places. The 
tourists who carry their camp kits like to stop 



THE PLAYGROUNDS OF THE NATION 105 

at these automobile camps. They meet many 
other tourists and exchange information about 
the best trails to follow and the condition of the 
roads. Sometimes, permanent cabins and shel- 
ters are provided for the use of the cross-country 
travelers. The only rules are that care be exer- 
cised in the use of fire and the camping sites be 
kept in clean and sanitary condition. 

All the forest roads are posted with many 
signs asking the tourists to be careful in the use 
of matches, tobacco and camp fires, so as not to 
start destructive forest fires. In the Federal and 
State forests hundreds of man-caused fires occur 
annually, due to the neglect and carelessness of 
campers and tourists to put out their camp fires. 
A single match or a cigarette stub tossed from a 
passing automobile may start a costly fire. Dur- 
ing the season from May to October, the western 
forests usually are as dry as tinder. Rains are 
rare during that period. A fire once started runs 
riot unless efficient control measures are used 
at once. 

Those interested in fishing and hunting usu- 
ally can find plenty of chance to pursue their 
favorite sports in the National and State Forests. 
There is good fishing in the forest streams and 



106 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

lakes, as the rangers, working in cooperation with 
Federal and State hatcheries yearly restock 
important waters. Fishing and hunting in the 
National Forests are regulated by the fish and 
game laws of that state in which the forests 
are located. The killing of wild game is per- 
mitted during certain open seasons in most of the 
forest regions. 

The eastern forests in the White Mountains, 
the Adirondacks, and the Appalachians, are not, 
for the most part, as well developed as recreation 
grounds as are the western vacation lands. How- 
ever, more interest is being taken each year in 
the outdoor life features of the eastern forests, 
and ultimately they will be used on a large scale 
as summer camp grounds. Many hikers and 
campers now spend their annual vacations in 
these forests. Throughout the White Mountain 
forest of New Hampshire, regular trails for 
walking parties have been made. At frequent 
intervals simple camps for the use of travelers 
have been built by mountaineering clubs. This 
forest, located as it is near centres of large popu- 
lation is visited by a half -million tourists each 
season. The Pisgah National Forest of North 
Carolina is becoming a centre for automobile 



THE PLAYGROUNDS OF THE NATION 107 

travel as it contains a fine macadam road. The 
Superior National Forest of Minnesota, which 
covers 1,250,000 acres and contains 150,000 acres 
of lakes, is becoming very popular. It is called 
"the land of ten thousand lakes." One can 
travel in a canoe through this forest for a month 
at a time without passing over the same lake 
twice. Other popular national forests are the 
Angeles in southern California, the Pike and 
Colorado in Colorado, and the Oregon and Wen- 
atchee — the Pacific Northwest. Visitors to these 
forests total more than 1,750,000 a year. 

The western forests are also being used for 
winter sports. They furnish excellent condi- 
tions for snow-shoe trips, skiing and sledding. 
The people who have camps on government land 
use their places for week-end excursions during 
the snow season when the roads are passable. 
The White Mountain National Forest is used 
more for winter sports than any other govern- 
ment woodland. At many of the towns of New 
Hampshire and Maine, huge carnivals are held 
each winter. Championship contests in skiing, 
snowshoeing, skating, ski jumping, tobogganing 
and ski-joring are held. Snow sport games are 
also annual events in the Routt, Leadville and 



108 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Pike National Forests of Colorado. Cross coun- 
try ski races and ski-joring contests are also held. 
In the Truckee National Forest of California, 
dog-team races over courses of 25 to 50 miles are 
held each winter. 

About eighty per cent, of the 5,500,000 people 
who visit the National Forests are automobile 
tourists. The other twenty per cent, consists of 
sportsmen interested in hunting, fishing, canoe- 
ing, boating, mountain climbing, bathing, riding 
and hiking. In the Pacific Coast States there are 
a number of mountain climbing clubs whose mem- 
bers compete with each other in making difficult 
ascents. The mountaineering clubs of Portland, 
Oregon, for example, stage an interesting contest 
each summer in climbing Mount Hood, one of the 
highest peaks in the country. 



CHAPTER XIII 

SOLVING OUR FORESTRY PROBLEMS 

A system of forestry which will provide suffi- 
cient lumber for the needs of our country and 
keep our forest land productive must be built 
on the extension of our public forests. Our Na- 
tional Forests are, at present, the one bright 
feature of future lumbering. Their tree crops 
will never be cut faster than they can be grown. 
A balance between production and consumption 
will always be maintained. Our needs for more 
timber, the necessity for protecting the head- 
waters of streams, the demands for saving wild 
life, and the playground possibilities of our for- 
ests justify their extension. Approximately 
eighty per cent, of the American forests are now 
privately owned. The chances are that most of 
these wooded tracts will always remain in the 
hands of private owners. It is important that 
the production of these forests be kept up with- 
out injuring their future value. We must pre- 
pare for the lumber demands of many years 
from now. 

109 



110 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Some method must be worked out of harness- 
ing our idle forest lands and putting them to work 
growing timber. Any regulations that are im- 
posed on the private owners of woodlands must 
be reasonable. Changes in our present methods 
of taxing timberlands must be made to encourage 
reforestation. The public must aid the private 
individuals in fighting forest fires, the greatest 
menace that modern forestry has to face. A 
national policy is needed which will permit the 
private owner to grow trees which will give him 
fair and reasonable profit when sold. 

The farmers of this country use about one- 
half of all the lumber consumed annually. They 
own approximately 191,000,000 acres of timber 
in their farm woodlots. If farmers would devote 
a little time and labor to the permanent upkeep 
and improvement of their timber, they would 
aid in decreasing the danger of a future lumber 
famine. If they would but keep track of the 
acreage production of their woodlands as closely 
as they do of their corn and wheat crops, Ameri- 
can forestry would benefit greatly. 

Between 1908 and 1913, the U. S. Forest Ser- 
vice established two forest experiment stations 
in California and one each in Washington, Idaho, 



SOLVING OUR FORESTRY PROBLEMS 111 

Colorado, and Arizona. They devote the same de- 
gree of science and skill to the solution of tree 
growing and lumbering problems as the agricul- 
tural experiment stations give to questions of 
farm and crop management. Despite the fact that 
these forestry stations did fine work for the sec- 
tions that they served, recently a number of them 
had to close, due to lack of funds. Congress does 
not yet realize the importance of this work. 

More forest experiment stations are needed 
throughout the country. Such problems as what 
kinds of trees are best to grow, must be solved. 
Of the 495 species of trees in this country, 125 
are important commercially. They all differ in 
their histories, characteristics and requirements. 
Research and study should be made of these trees 
in the sections where they grow best. Our knowl- 
edge regarding tree planting and the peculiarities 
of the different species is, as yet, very meagre. 
We must discover the best methods of cutting 
trees and of disposing of the slash. We must 
investigate rates of growth, yields and other prob- 
lems of forest management. We must study the 
effect of climate on forest fires. We must con- 
tinue experiments in order to develop better 
systems of fire protection. 



112 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

We need more forest experiment stations to 
promote the production of more timber. Twenty 
of our leading industries utilize lumber as their 
most important raw material. Fifty-five differ- 
ent industries use specialized grades and quality 
of lumber in the manufacture of many products. 
This use of lumber includes general mill work 
and planing mill products, such as building 
crates and boxes, vehicles, railroad cars, furni- 
ture, agricultural implements and wooden ware. 

Our manufacturers make and use more than 
two hundred and seventy-five different kinds 
of paper, including newsprint, boxboard, build- 
ing papers, book papers and many kinds of spe- 
cialty papers. The forest experiment stations 
would help solve the practical problems of these 
many industries. They could work out methods 
by which to maintain our forests and still turn 
out the thirty-five to forty billion board 
feet of lumber used each year. They are 
needed to determine methods of increasing 
our annual cut for pulp and paper. They are 
necessary so that we can increase our annual out- 
put of poles, pilings, cooperage and veneer. 

A forest experiment station is needed in the 
southern pine belt. The large pine forests of 



SOLVING OUR FORESTRY PROBLEMS 113 

Dixieland have been shaved down from 130,000,- 
000 acres to 23,500,000 acres. In that region 
there are more than 30,000,000 acres of waste 
forest lands which should be reclaimed and de- 
voted to the growing of trees. Eastern and 
middle western manufacturing and lumbering 
centres are interested in the restoring of the 
southern pine forests. During the last score of 
years, they have used two-thirds of the annual 
output of those forests. In another ten to fifteen 
years home demand will use most of the pine cut 
in the South. The East and Middle West will 
then have to rely mostly on the Pacific Coast 
forests for their pine lumber. 

The Lake States need a forest experiment 
station to work out methods by which the white 
pine, hemlock, spruce, beech, birch and maple 
forests of that section can be renewed. The Lake 
States are now producing only one-ninth as much 
white pine as they were thirty years ago. These 
states now cut only 3,500,000,000 feet of all kinds 
of lumber annually. Their output is growing 
smaller each year. Wisconsin led the United 
States in lumber production in 1900. Now she 
cuts less than the second-growth yield of Maine. 
Michigan, which led in lumber production before 



114 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Wisconsin, now harvests a crop of white pine 
that is 50 per cent, smaller than that of Massachu- 
setts. Experts believe that a forest experiment 
station in the Lake States would stimulate pro- 
duction so that enough lumber could be produced 
to satisfy the local demands. 

Not least in importance among the forest 
regions requiring an experiment station are the 
New England States and northern and eastern 
New York. In that section there are approxi- 
mately 25,000,000 acres of forest lands. Five 
and one-half million acres consist of waste and 
idle land. Eight million acres grow nothing but 
fuel-wood. The rest of the timber tracts are not 
producing anywhere near their capacity. New 
England produces 30 per cent, and New York 50 
per cent, of our newsprint. Maine is the leading 
state in pulp production. New England imports 
50 per cent, of her lumber, while New York 
cuts less than one-half the timber she annu- 
ally consumes. 

Another experiment station should be pro- 
vided to study the forestry problems of Penn- 
sylvania, southern and western New York, Ohio, 
Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware. At one 
time this region was the most important lumber 



SOLVING OUR FORESTRY PROBLEMS 115 

centre of the United States. Pennsylvania 
spends $100,000,000 a year in importing lumber 
which should be grown at home. The denuded 
and waste lands at the headwaters of the Alle- 
gheny River now extend over one-half million 
acres. New Jersey is using more than twenty 
times as much lumber as is produced in the state. 
Ohio is a centre for wood manufacturing indus- 
tries, yet her timber-producing possibilities are 
neglected, as are those of other states needing 
wood for similar purposes. 

European nations have spent large sums of 
money in investigating forestry problems to 
make timber producing economically feasible, 
and have found that it paid. In this country, 
our forest experiment stations will have to deal 
with a timbered area twice that of all Europe, 
exclusive of Russia. That is why we shall need 
many of these stations to help solve the many 
questions of national welfare which are so de- 
pendent upon our forests. 



CHAPTER XIV 

WHY THE UNITED STATES SHOULD 
PRACTICE FORESTRY 

Of late years the demand for lumber by the 
world trade has been very great. Most of the 
countries which have extensive forests are taking 
steps to protect their supplies. They limit 
cutting and restrict exports of timber. Both 
New Zealand and Switzerland have passed laws 
of this kind. Sweden exports much lumber, but 
by law forbids the cutting of timber in excess of 
the annual growth. Norway regulates private 
cutting. England is planning to plant 1,770,000 
acres of new forest reserve. This body of timber 
when ready for cutting, would be sufficient to 
supply her home needs in time of emergency for 
at least three years. France is enlarging her 
forest nurseries and protecting her timber in 
every possible way. Even Russia, a country with 
huge forest tracts, is beginning to practice con- 
servation. Russia now requires that all timber 
cut under concession shall be replaced by plant- 
ings of trees* 

116 



UNITED STATES SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 117 

For many years, the United States and China 
were the greatest wasters of forest resources 
under the sun. Now this country has begun to 
practice scientific forestry on a large scale so that 
China now has the worst-managed forests in the 
world. Japan, on the other hand, handles her 
forests efficiently and has established a national 
forestry school. Austria, Norway, Sweden and 
Italy have devoted much time, labor and money 
to the development of practical systems of for- 
estry. Turkey, Greece, Spain and Portugal, all 
follow sane and sensible forestry practices. 
Even Eussia takes care of her national timber- 
lands and annually draws enormous incomes 
from their maintenance. France and Germany 
both have highly successful forestry systems. 
Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand are 
using their forests in a practical manner and 
saving sufficient supplies of wood for posterity. 

History tells us that the forests first were pro- 
tected as the homes of wild game. Little atten- 
tion was paid to the trees in those days. The 
forests were places to hunt and abodes devoted 
to wild animals. Scientific forestry was first 
studied and practised widely in the nineteenth 
century. Its development and expansion have 



118 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

been rapid. Germany still leads as one of the 
most prominent countries that practices efficient 
forestry. German forests are now said to be 
worth more than $5,000,000,000. France has over 
2,750,000 acres of fine publicly owned forests, 
in addition to private forests, which yield 
a net income of more than $2 an acre a year 
to the government. The French have led 
in extending reforestation on denuded mountain 
sides. British India has well-managed forests 
which cover over 200,000 square miles of area. 
These timberlands return a net income of from 
$3,000,000 to $4,000,000 a year. India now pro- 
tects more than 35,000 square miles of forest 
against fire at an annual cost of less than half a 
cent an acre. 

Forest experts say that the United States, 
which produces more than one-half of all the 
sawed timber in the world, should pay more 
attention to the export lumber business. Such 
trade must be built up on the basis of a permanent 
supply of timber. This means the practice of 
careful conservation and the replacement of for- 
ests that have been destroyed. We can not export 
timber from such meagre reserves as the pine 
forests of the South, which will not supply even 



UNITED STATES SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 119 

the domestic needs of the region for much more 
than ten or fifteen years longer. Many of our tim- 
ber men desire to develop extensive export trade. 
Our sawmills are large enough and numerous 
enough to cut much more timber annually than 
we need in this country. However, the danger is 
that we shall only abuse our forests the more and 
further deplete the timber reserves of future 
generations as a result of extensive export trade. 
If such trade is developed on a large scale, a con- 
servative, practical national forestry policy must 
be worked out, endorsed and lived up to by every 
producing exporter. 

The U. S. Forest Service reports that before 
the world war, we were exporting annually 
3,000,000,000 board feet of lumber and sawlogs, 
not including ties, staves and similar material. 
This material consisted of Southern yellow pine, 
Douglas fir, white oak, redwood, white pine, yel- 
low poplar, cypress, walnut, hickory, ash, bass- 
wood and similar kinds of wood. The exports 
were made up of 79 per cent, softwoods and 21 
per cent, hardwoods. The export trade consumed 
about 8y 2 per cent, of our annual lumber cut. 
Southern yellow pine was the most popular tim- 



120 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

ber snipped abroad. One-half of the total export 
was of this material. 

During the four years before the war our 
imports of lumber from foreign countries 
amounted to about 1,200,000,000 board feet of 
lumber and logs. In 1918, imports exceeded ex- 
ports by 100,000,000 board feet. In addition to 
this lumber, we also shipped in, largely from Can- 
ada, 1,370,000 cords of pulp wood, 596,000 tons of 
wood pulp, 516,000 tons of paper, and close to 
a billion shingles. Some of the material, such as 
wood pulp and paper, also came from Sweden, 
Norway, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and 
the United Kingdom. 

As a result of the war, European countries for 
several years can use 7,000,000,000 feet of lumber 
a year above their normal requirements. For 
housing construction, England needs 2,000,000,- 
000 feet a year more than normally; France, 
1,500,000,000 feet; Italy, 1,750,000,000 feet; Bel- 
gium and Spain 750,000,000 feet apiece. Even 
before the war, there was a great deficiency of 
timber in parts of Europe. It amounted to 
16,000,000,000 board feet a year and was supplied 
by Russia, the United States, Canada, Sweden, 
Austria-Hungary and a few other countries of 



UNITED STATES SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 121 

western Europe. If we can regulate cutting and 
replenish our forests as they deserve, there is 
a remarkable opportunity for us to build up a 
large and permanent export trade. 

The Central and South American countries 
now have to depend on Canada, the United States 
and Sweden for most of their softwoods. Unless 
they develop home forests by the practice of mod- 
ern forestry, they will always be dependent on 
imported timber of this type. South Africa and 
Egypt are both heavy importers of lumber. 
Africa has large tropical forests but the timber 
is hard to get at and move. China produces but 
little lumber and needs much. She is developing 
into a heavy importing country. Japan grows 
only about enough timber to supply her home 
needs. Australia imports softwoods from the 
United States and Canada. New Zealand is in 
the market for Douglas fir and hardwoods. 

In the past, our export lumber business has 
been second only to that of Russia in total 
amount. The value of the timber that we ex- 
ported was larger than that of Russia because 
much of our timber that was sent abroad con- 
sisted of the best grades of material grown in this 
country. In the future, we shall have to compete 



122 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

in the softwood export business with Russia, 
Finland, Sweden, Norway and the various states 
of southeastern Europe which sell lumber. In 
the hardwood business, we have only a limited 
number of rivals. With the exception of a small 
section of eastern Europe, our hardwood forests 
are the finest in the Temperate Zone. We export 
hickory, black walnut, yellow poplar, white 
and red oak even to Russia and Sweden, coun- 
tries that are our keenest rivals in the softwood 
export business. 

Europe wants export lumber from our eastern 
states because the transportation costs on such 
material are low. She does not like to pay heavy 
costs of hauling timber from the Pacific Coast to 
the Atlantic seaboard and then have it reshipped 
by water. 

Our eastern forests are practically exhausted. 
Our supplies of export lumber except Douglas fir 
are declining. Most of the kinds of export tim- 
ber that Europe wants we need right at home. 
We have only about 258,000,000,000 feet of south- 
ern yellow pine left, yet this material composes 
one-half of our annual shipments abroad. We 
are cutting this material at the rate of 16,000,- 
000,000 board feet a year. Some authorities 



UNITED STATES SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 123 

believe that our reserves will last only sixteen 
years unless measures to protect them are put in- 
to effect at once. At the present rate of cutting 
long-leaf pine trees, our outputs of naval stores 
including turpentine and rosin are dwindling. 
We cannot afford to increase our export of south- 
ern yellow pine unless reforestation is started on 
all land suitable for that purpose. Our pine lands 
of the southern states must be restocked and 
made permanently productive. Then they could 
maintain the turpentine industry, provide all the 
lumber of this kind we need for home use, and 
supply a larger surplus for export. 

Although our supplies of Douglas fir, western 
white pine, sugar pine and western yellow pine 
are still large, they will have to bear an extra 
burden when all the southern pine is gone. This 
indicates that the large supplies of these woods 
will not last as long as we would wish. To pre- 
vent overtaxing their production, it is essential 
that part of the load be passed to the southern 
pine cut-over lands. By proper protection and 
renewal of our forests, we can increase our pro- 
duction of lumber and still have a permanent 
supply. The Forest Service estimates that by 
protecting our cut-over and waste lands from fire 



124 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

and practicing care to secure reproduction after 
logging on our remaining virgin forest land, we 
can produce annually at least 27,750,000,000 cubic 
feet of wood, including 70,000,000,000 board feet 
of sawtimber. Such a production would meet in- 
definitely the needs of our growing population, 
and still leave an amount of timber available 
for export. 

Our hardwoods need protection as well as our 
softwoods. Ten per cent, of our yearly cut of 
valuable white oak is shipped overseas. In addi- 
tion we annually waste much of our best oak in 
the preparation of split staves for export. At 
the present rate of cutting, the supply, it is said, 
will not last more than twenty-five years. We 
ship abroad about seven per cent, of our poplar 
lumber. Our supplies of this material will be 
exhausted in about twenty years if the present 
rate of cutting continues. We sell to foreign 
countries at least one-half of our cut of black 
walnut which will be exhausted in ten to twelve 
years unless present methods are reformed. Our 
supplies of hickory, ash and basswood will be 
used up in twenty to thirty years. We need all 
this hardwood lumber for future domestic pur- 



UNITED STATES SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 125 

poses. However, the furniture factories of 
France, Spain and Italy are behind on orders. 
They need hardwood and much of our valuable 
hardwood timber is being shipped to Europe. 

Experience has proved that correct systems 
of handling the private forests can not be se- 
cured by mere suggestions or education. No 
ordinary method of public cooperation has been 
worked out which produces the desired results. 
It is necessary that suitable measures be 
adopted to induce private owners to preserve 
and protect their woodlands. The timberlands 
must be protected against forest fires. Timber 
must be cut so as to aid natural reproduction of 
forest. Cut-over lands must be reforested. If 
such methods were practiced, and national, state 
and municipal forests were established and ex- 
tended, our lumber problem would largely solve 
itself. We not only should produce a large per- 
manent supply of timber for domestic use, but 
also should have great reserves available for 
export. Under such conditions, the United 
States would become the greatest supply source 
in the world for lumber. 



CHAPTER XV 

WHY THE LUMBERMAN SHOULD PRACTICE 
FORESTRY 

The lumber industry of this country can aid 
reforestation by practicing better methods. It 
can harvest its annual crop of timber without 
injuring the future production of the forests. 
It can limit forest fires by leaving the woods in a 
safe condition after it has removed the timber. 
Some private timber owners who make a living 
out of cutting lumber, have even reached the 
stage where they are planting trees. They are 
coming to appreciate the need for replacing trees 
that they cut down, in order that new growth may 
develop to furnish future timber crops. 

The trouble in this country has been that the 
lumbermen have harvested the crop of the forests 
in the shortest possible time instead of spreading 
out the work over a long period. Most of our 
privately owned forests have been temporarily 
ruined by practices of this sort. The aim of the 
ordinary lumberman is to fell the trees and 
reduce them to lumber with the least labor pos- 

126 



LUMBERMEN SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 127 

sible. He does not exercise special care as to how 
the tree is cut down. He pays little attention to 
the protection of young trees and new growth. 
He cuts the tree to fall in the direction that best 
serves his purpose, no matter whether this means 
that che forest giant will crush and seriously 
cripple many young trees. He wastes large 
parts of the trunk in cutting. He leaves the tops 
and chips and branches scattered over the ground 
to dry out. They develop into a fire trap. 

As generally followed, the ordinary method 
of lumbering is destructive of the forests. It 
ravages the future production of the timberlands. 
It pays no heed to the young growth of the forest. 
It does not provide for the proper growth and 
development of the future forest. Our vast 
stretches of desolate and deserted cut-over lands 
are silent witnesses to the ruin which has been 
worked by the practice of destructive lumbering. 
Fortunately, a change for the better is now devel- 
oping. With the last of our timberland riches 
in sight on the Pacific Coast, the lumbering indus- 
try is coming to see that it must prepare for the 
future. Consequently, operators are handling 
the woods better than ever before. They now are 
trying to increase both the production and per- 



128 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

manent value of the remaining forests. They 
aim to harvest the tree yield more thoroughly 
and to extend their cuttings over many years. 
They appreciate that it is necessary to protect 
and preserve the forest at the same time that 
profitable tree crops are being removed. They 
see the need for saving and increasing young 
growth and for protecting the woodlands against 
fire. If only these methods of forestry had been 
observed from the time the early settlers felled 
the first trees, not only would our forests be pro- 
ducing at present all the lumber we could use, 
but also the United States would be the greatest 
lumber-exporting country in the world. 

It will never be possible to stop timber cutting 
entirely in this country, nor would it be desirable 
to do so. The demands for building material, 
fuel, wood pulp and the like are too great to 
permit of such a condition. The Nation would 
suffer if all forest cutting was suspended. There 
is a vital need, however, of perpetuating our re- 
maining forests. Wasteful lumbering practices 
should be stopped. Only trees that are ready for 
harvest should be felled. They should be cut 
under conditions which will protect the best 
interests and production of the timberlands. As 



LUMBERMEN SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 129 

a class, our lumbermen are no more selfish or 
greedy than men in many other branches of busi- 
ness. They have worked under peculiar condi- 
tions in the United States. Our population was 
small as compared with our vast forest resources. 
Conditions imposed in France and Germany, 
where the population is so dense that more con- 
servative systems of lumbering are generally 
practiced, were not always applicable in this 
country. Furthermore, our lumbermen have 
known little about scientific forestry. This 
science is comparatively new in America. All our 
forestry schools are still in the early stages of 
their development. As lumbermen learn more 
about the value of modern forestry they gradual- 
ly are coming to practice its principles. 

The early lumbermen often made mistakes in 
estimating the timber yields of the forests. They 
also neglected to provide for the future produc- 
tion of the woodlands after the virgin timber was 
removed. Those who followed in their steps have 
learned by these errors what mistakes to avoid. 
Our lumbermen lead the world in skill and inge- 
nuity. They have worked out most efficient meth- 
ods of felling and logging the trees. Many foreign 
countries have long practiced forestry and lum- 



130 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

bering, yet their lumbermen cannot compete with 
the Americans when it comes to a matter of inge- 
nuity in the woods. American woods and methods 
of logging are peculiar. They would no more fit 
under European forest conditions than would 
foreign systems be suitable in this country. 
American lumbermen are slowly coming to devise 
and follow a combination method which includes 
all the good points of foreign forestry revised to 
apply to our conditions. 

We can keep our remaining forests alive and 
piece out their production over a long period if 
we practice conservation methods generally 
throughout the country. Our remaining forests 
can be lumbered according to the rules of prac- 
tical forestry without great expense to the 
owners. In the long run, they will realize much 
larger returns from handling the woods in this 
way. This work of saving the forests should be- 
gin at once. It should be practiced in every 
state. Our cut-over and idle lands should be 
put to work. Our forest lands should be handled 
just like fertile farming lands that produce big 
crops. The farmer does not attempt to take all 
the fertility out of the land in the harvest of one 
bumper crop. He handles the field so that it 



LUMBERMEN SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 131 

will produce profitable crops every season. He 
fertilizes the soil and tills it so as to add to its 
productive power. Similarly, our forests should 
be worked so that they will yield successive crops 
of lumber year after year. 

Lumbermen who own forests from which they 
desire to harvest a timber crop should first of all 
survey the woods, or have some experienced for- 
ester do this work, to decide on what trees should 
be cut and the best methods of logging to follow. 
The trees to be cut should be selected carefully 
and marked. The owner should determine how 
best to protect the young and standing timber 
during lumbering. He should decide on what 
plantings he will make to replace the trees that 
are cut. He should survey and estimate the fu- 
ture yield of the forest. He should study the 
young trees and decide about when they will be 
ripe to cut and what they will yield. From this 
information, he can determine his future income 
from the forest and the best ways of handling 
the woodlands. 

Under present conditions in this country, only 
those trees should be cut from our forests which 
are mature and ready for the ax. This means 
that the harvest must be made under conditions 



132 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

where there are enough young trees to take the 
place of the full-grown trees that are removed. 
Cutting is best done during the winter when the 
trees are dormant. If the cutting is performed 
during the spring or summer, the bark, twigs and 
leaves of the surrounding young growth may be 
seriously damaged by the falling trees. The 
trees should be cut as low to the ground as is 
practicable, as high stumps waste valuable tim- 
ber. Care should be taken so that they will not 
break or split in falling. Trees should be 
dropped so that they will not crush young seed- 
lings and sapling growth as they fall. It is no 
more difficult or costly to throw a tree so that it 
will not injure young trees than it is to drop it 
anywhere without regard for the future of 
the forest. 

Directly after cutting, the fallen timber 
should be trimmed so as to remove branches that 
are crushing down any young growth or seedling. 
In some forests the young growth is so thick that 
it is impossible to throw trees without falling 
them on some of these baby trees which will 
spring back into place again if the heavy branches 
are removed at once. The top of the tree should 
be trimmed so that it will lie close to the ground. 



LUMBERMEN SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 133 

Under such conditions it will rot rapidly and be 
less of a fire menace. The dry tops of trees which 
lodge above the ground are most dangerous 
sources of fire as they burn easily and rapidly. 

The lumbermen can also aid the future devel- 
opment of the forests by using care in skidding 
and hauling the logs to the yard or mill. Care 
should be exercised in the logging operations not 
to tear or damage the bark of trunks of standing 
timber. If possible, only the trees of unimpor- 
tant timber species should be cut for making cor- 
duroy roads in the forests. This will be a saving 
of valuable material. 

In lumbering operations as practiced in this 
country, the logs are usually moved to the saw- 
mills on sleds or by means of logging railroads. 
If streams are near by, the logs are run into the 
water and floated to the mill. If the current is 
not swift enough, special dams are built. Then 
when enough logs are gathered for the drive, the 
dam is opened and the captive waters flood away 
rapidly and carry the logs to the mill. On larger 
streams and rivers, the logs are often fastened 
together in rafts. Expert log drivers who ride 
on the tipping, rolling logs in the raging river, 
guide the logs on these drives. 



134 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

On arrival at the sawmill, the logs are re- 
duced to lumber. Many different kinds of saws 
are used in this work. One of the most efficient 
is the circular saw which performs rapid work. 
It is so wide in bite, however, that it wastes much 
wood in sawdust. For example, in cutting four 
boards of one-inch lumber, an ordinary circular 
saw wastes enough material to make a fifth 
board, because it cuts an opening that is one- 
quarter of an inch in width. Band saws, al- 
though they do not work at such high speed, are 
replacing circular saws in many mills because 
they are less wasteful of lumber. Although saw- 
mills try to prevent waste of wood by converting 
slabs and short pieces into laths and shingles, 
large amounts of refuse, such as sawdust, slabs 
and edgings, are burned each season. As a rule, 
only about one-third of the tree is finally used 
for construction purposes, the balance being 
wasted in one way or another. 



CHAPTER XVI 

WHY THE FARMER SHOULD PRACTICE 
FORESTRY 

The tree crop is a profitable crop for the aver- 
age farmer to grow. Notwithstanding the com- 
paratively sure and easy incomes which result 
from the farm woodlands that are well managed, 
farmers as a class neglect their timber. Not 
infrequently they sell their timber on the stump 
at low rates through ignorance of the real market 
value of the wood. In other cases, they do not 
care for their woodlands properly. They cut 
without regard to future growth. They do not 
pile the slashings and hence expose the timber 
tracts to fire dangers. They convert young trees 
into hewed crossties which would yield twice as 
great a return if allowed to grow for four or five 
years longer and then be cut as lumber. 

Just to show how a small tract of trees will 
grow into money if allowed to mature, the case of 
a three-acre side-hill pasture in New England is 
interesting. Forty-four years ago the farmer 
who owned this waste land dug up fourteen hun- 

135 



136 THE SCHOOL BOOK OP FORESTRY 

dred seedling pines which were growing in a 
clump and set them out on the sidehill. Twenty 
years later the farmer died. His widow sold the 
three acres of young pine for $300. Fifteen years 
later the woodlot again changed hands for a con- 
sideration of $1,000, a lumber company buying it. 
Today, this small body of pine woods contains 
90,000 board feet of lumber worth at least $1,500 
on the stump. The farmer who set out the trees 
devoted about $35 worth of land and labor to the 
miniature forest. Within a generation this ex- 
penditure has grown into a valuable asset 
which yielded a return of $34.09 a year on 
the investment. 

A New York farmer who plays square with 
his woodland realizes a continuous profit of $1 
a day from a 115-acre timber tract. The annual 
growth of this well-managed farm forest is .65 
cords of wood per acre, equivalent to 75 cords 
of wood — mostly tulip poplar — a year. The 
farmer's profit amounts to $4.68 a cord, or a total 
of $364.50 from the entire timber tract. Over 
in New Hampshire, an associate sold a two-acre 
stand of white pine — this was before the inflated 
war prices were in force — for $2,000 on the 
stump. The total cut of this farm forest 



FARMERS SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 137 

amounted to 254 cords equivalent to 170,000 
board feet of lumber. This was an average of 
about 85,000 feet an acre. The trees were 
between eighty and eighty-five years old when 
felled. This indicates an annual growth on each 
acre of about 1,000 feet of lumber. The gross re- 
turns from the sale of the woodland crops 
amounted to $12.20 an acre a year. These, of 
course, are not average instances. 

Farmers should prize their woodlands because 
they provide building material for fences and 
farm outbuildings as well as for general repairs. 
The farm woodland also supplies fuel for the 
farm house. Any surplus materials can be sold 
in the form of standing timber, sawlogs, posts, 
poles, crossties, pulpwood, blocks or bolts. The 
farm forest also serves as a good windbreak for 
the farm buildings. It supplies shelter for the 
livestock during stormy weather and protects the 
soil against erosion. During slack times, it pro- 
vides profitable work for the farm hands. 

There are approximately one-fifth of a billion 
acres of farm woodlands in the United States. 
In the eastern United States there are about 
169,000,000 acres of farmland forests. If these 
woodlands could be joined together in a solid 



138 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

strip one hundred miles wide, they would reach 
from New York to San Francisco. They would 
amount to an area almost eight times as large as 
the combined forests of France which furnished 
the bulk of the timber used by the Allies during 
the World War. 

In the North, the farm woodlands compose 
two-fifths of all the forests. Altogether there 
are approximately 53,000,000 acres of farm 
woodlots which yield a gross income of about 
$162,000,000 annually to their owners. Surveys 
show that in the New England States more than 
65 per cent, of the forested land is on farms, while 
in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa from 80 to 
100 per cent, of the timber tracts are on corn belt 
farms. Conditions in the South also emphasize 
the importance of farm woods, as in this region 
there are more than 125,000,000 acres which yield 
an income of about $150,000,000 a year. In fact 
the woodlands on the farms compose about 50 per 
cent, of all the forest lands south of the Mason- 
Dixon line. In Maryland, Virginia, North 
Carolina, Kentucky and Oklahoma, over 60 per 
cent, of all the forest land is on farms. 

The Government says timber raising is very 
profitable in the Eastern States because there 



FARMERS SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 139 

is plenty of cheap land which is not suitable for 
farming, while the rainfall is abundant and fav- 
ors rapid tree growth. Furthermore, there are 
many large cities which use enormous supplies 
of lumber. The transportation facilities, both 
rail and water, are excellent. This section is a 
long distance from the last of the virgin forests 
of the Pacific Coast country. 

The farms that reported at the last census sold 
an average of about $82 worth of tree crop 
products a year. New York, North Carolina, 
Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Ken- 
tucky, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania each sold 
over $15,000,000 worth of lumber and other for- 
est products from their farm woodlots during a 
single season. In 1918 the report showed that the 
farms of the country burn up about 78,000,000 
cords of firewood annually, equal to approxi- 
mately 11.5 cords of fuel a farm. The Southern 
States burn more wood than the colder Northern 
States. In North Carolina each farm consumes 
eighteen cords of fuel annually, while the farms 
of South Carolina and Arkansas used seventeen 
cords apiece, and those of Mississippi, Georgia, 
Tennessee, Louisiana, and Kentucky from fifteen 
to sixteen cords. Even under these conditions of 



140 THE SCHOOL BOOK OP FORESTRY 

extensive cordwood use, our farm woodlots are 
producing only about one-third to one-half of the 
wood supplies which they could grow if they 
were properly managed. 

The farmer who appreciates the importance 
of caring for his home forests is always interested 
in knowing how much timber will grow on an 
acre during a period of twelve months. The 
Government reports that where the farm wood- 
lots are fully stocked with trees and well-cared 
for, an acre of hardwoods will produce from 
one-half to one cord of wood — a cord of wood is 
equal to about 500 board feet of lumber. A pine 
forest will produce from one to two cords of wood 
an acre. The growth is greater in the warmer 
southern climate than it is in the North where 
the growing season is much shorter. Expert 
foresters say that posts and crossties can be 
grown in from ten to thirty years and that most 
of the rapid growing trees will make saw timber 
in between twenty and forty years. 

After the farm woodland is logged, a new 
stand of young trees will develop from seeds or 
sprouts from the stumps. Farmers find that it is 
profitable to harrow the ground in the cut-over 
woodlands to aid natural reproduction, or to turn 
hogs into the timber tract to rustle a living as 



FARMERS SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 141 

these animals aid in scattering the seed under fav- 
orable circumstances. It is also noteworthy that 
the most vigorous sprouts come from the clean, 
well-cut stumps from which the trees were cut 
during the late fall, winter or early spring before 
the sap begins to flow. The top of each stump 
should be cut slanting so that it will readily shed 
water. The trees that reproduce by sprouts in- 
clude the oak, hickory, basswood, chestnut, gum, 
cottonwood, willows and young short-leaf and 
pitch pines. 

In order that the farm woodland may be kept 
in the best of productive condition, the farmer 
should remove for firewood the trees adapted only 
for that purpose. Usually, removing these trees 
improves the growth of the remaining trees by 
giving them better chances to develop. Trees 
should be cut whose growth has been stunted 
because trees of more rapid growth crowded them 
out. Diseased trees or those that have been seri- 
ously injured by insects should be felled. In 
sections exposed to chestnut blight or gypsy moth 
infection, it is advisable to remove the chestnut 
and birch trees before they are damaged seriously. 
It is wise management to cut the fire-scarred 
trees as well as those that are crooked, large- 
crowned and short-boled, as they will not make 



142 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

good lumber. The removal of these undesirable 
trees improves the forest by providing more 
growing space for the sturdy, healthy trees. 
Sound dead trees as well as the slow-growing 
trees that crowd the fast growing varieties should 
be cut. In addition, where such less valuable 
trees as the beech, birch, black oak, jack oak or 
black gum are crowding valuable trees like the 
sugar maples, white or short-leaf pines, yellow 
poplar or white oak, the former species should be 
chopped down. These cutting operations should 
be done with the least possible damage to the liv- 
ing and young trees. The "weed trees" should 
be cut down, just as the weeds are hoed out of a 
field of corn, in order that the surviving trees 
may make better growth. 

Often the farmer errs in marketing his tree 
crops. There have been numerous instances 
where farmers have been deluded by timber 
cruisers and others who purchased their valuable 
forest tracts for a mere fraction of what the wood- 
lands were really worth. The United States 
Forest Service and State Forestry Departments 
have investigated many of these cases and its 
experts advise farmers who are planning to sell 
tree crops to get prices for the various wood 
products from as many sawmills and wood-using 



FARMERS SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY 143 

plants as possible. The foresters recommend 
that the farmers consult with their neighbors who 
have sold timber. Sometimes it may pay to sell 
the timber locally if the prices are right, as then 
the heavy transportation costs are eliminated. 
Most states have state foresters who examine 
woodlands and advise the owner just what to do. 
It pays to advertise in the newspapers and 
secure as many competitive bids as possible for 
the timber on the stump. Generally, unless the 
prices offered for such timber are unusually high, 
the farmer will get greater returns by logging 
and sawing the timber and selling it in the form 
of lumber and other wood products. The farmer 
who owns a large forest tract should have some 
reliable and experienced timberman carefully 
inspect his timber and estimate the amount and 
value. The owner should deal with only respon- 
sible buyers. He should use a written agree- 
ment in selling timber, particularly where the 
purchaser is to do the cutting. The farm wood- 
land owner must always bear in mind that stand- 
ing timber can always be held over a period of 
low prices without rapid deterioration. In sell- 
ing lumber, the best plan is to use the inferior 
timber at home for building and repair work and 
to market the best of the material. 



CHAPTEB XVII 
PUTTING WOOD WASTE TO WORK 

For many years technical studies of wood 
were neglected. Detailed investigations of steel, 
concrete, oil, rubber and other materials were 
made but wood apparently was forgotten. It 
has been only during the last decade since the 
establishment of the Forest Products Labora- 
tory of the United States Forest Service, at 
Madison, Wisconsin, that tests and experiments 
to determine the real value of different woods 
have been begun. One of the big problems of 
the government scientists at that station, which 
is conducted in cooperation with the University 
of Wisconsin, is to check the needless waste of 
wood. By actual test they find out all about the 
wasteful practices of lumbering in the woods 
and mills. Then they try to educate and convert 
the lumbermen and manufacturers away from 
such practices. 

The laboratory experts have already per- 
formed more than 500,000 tests with 149 different 
kinds of native woods. As a result of these ex- 

144 



PUTTING WOOD WASTE TO WORK 145 

periments, these woods are now being used to 
better advantage with less waste in the building 
and manufacturing industries. A potential 
saving of at least 20 per cent, of the timbers used 
for building purposes is promised, which means 
a salvage of about $40,000,000 annually as a re- 
sult of strength tests of southern yellow pine and 
Douglas fir. Additional tests have shown that 
the red heartwood of hickory is just as strong and 
serviceable as the white sapwood. Formerly, 
the custom has been to throw away the heart- 
wood as useless. This discovery greatly extends 
the use of our hickory supply. 

Heretofore, the custom has been to season 
woods by drying them in the sun. This method 
of curing not only took a long time but also was 
wasteful and expensive. The forestry scientists 
and lumbermen have now improved the use of 
dry kilns and artificial systems of curing green 
lumber. Now more than thirty-five of the leading 
woods such as Douglas fir, southern yellow pine, 
spruce, gum and oak can be seasoned in the kilns 
in short time. It used to take about two years of 
air drying to season fir and spruce. At present 

the artificial kiln performs this job in from 
10 



146 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

twenty to forty days. The kiln-dried lumber is 
just as strong and useful for construction as 
the air-cured stock. Tests have proved that 
kiln drying of walnut for use in gun stocks or 
airplane propellers, in some cases reduced the 
waste of material from 60 to 2 per cent. The 
kiln-dried material was ready for use in one- 
third the time it would have taken to season the 
material in the air. Heavy green oak timbers 
for wagons and wheels were dried in the kiln 
in ninety to one hundred days. It would have 
taken two years to cure this material outdoors. 

By their valuable test work, scientists are de- 
vising efficient means of protecting wood against 
decay. They treat the woods with such chemicals 
as creosote, zinc chloride and other preservatives. 
The life of the average railroad tie is at least 
doubled by such treatment. We could save about 
one and one-half billion board feet of valuable 
hardwood lumber annually if all the 85,000,000 
untreated railroad ties now in use could be pro- 
tected in this manner. If all wood exposed to 
decay were similarly treated, we could save about 
six billion board feet of timber each year. 

About one-sixth of all the lumber that is cut 
in the United States is used in making crates 



PUTTING WOOD WASTE TO WORK 147 

and packing boxes. The majority of these boxes 
are not satisfactory. Either they are not strong 
enough or else they are not the right size or shape. 
During a recent year, the railroads paid out more 
than $100,000,000 to shippers who lost goods in 
transit due to boxes and crates that were damaged 
in shipment. 

In order to find out what woods are best 
to use in crates and boxes and what sizes and 
shapes will withstand rough handling, the 
Laboratory experts developed a novel drum that 
tosses the boxes to and fro and gives them the 
same kind of rough handling they get on the 
railroad. This testing machine has demon- 
strated that the proper method of nailing the 
box is of great importance. Tests have shown 
that the weakest wood properly nailed into a 
container is more serviceable than the strongest 
wood poorly nailed. Better designs of boxes have 
been worked out which save lumber and space 
and produce stronger containers. 

Educating the lumbering industry away from 
extravagant practices is one of the important 
activities of the modern forestry experts. Oper- 
ators who manufacture handles, spokes, chairs, 
furniture, toys and agricultural implements 



148 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

could, by scientific methods of wood using, pro- 
duce just as good products by using 10 to 50 
per cent, of the tree as they do by using 
all of it. The furniture industry not infrequently 
wastes from 40 to 60 per cent, of the raw 
lumber which it buys. Much of this waste 
could be saved by cutting the small sizes 
of material directly from the log instead of from 
lumber. It is also essential that sizes of material 
used in these industries be standardized. 

The Forest Products Laboratory has per- 
fected practical methods of building up material 
from small pieces which otherwise would be 
thrown away. For example, shoe lasts, hat 
blocks, bowling pins, base-ball bats, wagon bol- 
sters and wheel hubs are now made of short 
pieces of material which are fastened together 
with waterproof glue. If this method of built- 
up construction can be made popular in all sec- 
tions of the country, very great savings in our 
annual consumption of wood can be brought 
about. As matters now stand, approximately 
25 per cent, of the tree in the forest is lost or 
wasted in the woods, 40 per cent, at the mills, 5 
per cent, in seasoning the lumber and from 5 
to 10 per cent, in working the lumber over into 



PUTTING WOOD WASTE TO WORK 149 

the manuf actured articles. This new method of 
construction which makes full use of odds and 
ends and slabs and edgings offers a profitable 
way to make use of the 75 per cent, of material 
which now is wasted. 

The vast importance of preserving our forests 
is emphasized when one stops to consider the 
great number of uses to which wood is put. In 
addition to being used as a building material, 
wood is also manufactured into newspaper and 
writing paper. Furthermore, it is a most impor- 
tant product in the making of linoleum, artificial 
silk, gunpowder, paints, soaps, inks, celluloid, 
varnishes, sausage casings, chloroform and iodo- 
form. Wood alcohol, which is made by the de- 
structive distillation of wood, is another impor- 
tant by-product. Acetate of lime, which is used 
extensively in chemical plants, and charcoal, are 
other products which result from wood distilla- 
tion. The charcoal makes a good fuel and is 
valuable for smelting iron, tin and copper, in the 
manufacture of gunpowder, as an insulating ma- 
terial, and as a clarifier in sugar refineries. 

It is predicted that the future fuel for use in 
automobile engines will be obtained from wood 
waste. Ethyl or " grain" alcohol can now be 



150 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

made from sawdust and other mill refuse. One 
ton of dry Douglas fir or southern yellow pine 
will yield from twenty to twenty-five gallons of 95 
per cent, alcohol. It is estimated that more than 
300,000,000 gallons of alcohol could be made an- 
nually from wood now wasted at the mills. 
This supply could be increased by the use of 
second-growth, inferior trees and other low- 
grade material. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

WOOD FOR THE NATION 

Westward the course of forest discovery and 
depletion has taken its way in the United States. 
The pine and hardwood forests of the Atlantic 
and New England States first fell before the bite 
of the woodman's ax and the sweep of his saw. 
Wasteful lumbering finally sapped the resources 
of these productive timberlands. Shift was then 
made farther westward to the Lake States. Their 
vast stretches of white pine and native hardwoods 
were cut to a skeleton of their original size. The 
lumbering operations then spread to the southern 
pine belt. In a few years the supplies of market- 
able lumber in that region were considerably re- 
duced. Then the westward trail was resumed. 
The strip of country between the Mississippi 
River and the Cascade, Sierra Nevada and Coast 
Ranges was combed and cut. Today, the last big 
drive against our timber assets is being waged in 
the forests of the Pacific Coast. 

Our virgin forests originally covered 822,000,- 
000 acres. Today, only one-sixth of them are left. 

151 



152 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

All the forest land now in the United States in- 
cluding culled, burned and cut-over tracts, totals 
463,000,000 acres. We now have more waste and 
cut-over lands in this country than the combined 
forest area of Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Hol- 
land, France, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. 
The merchantable timber left in the United 
States is estimated at 2,215,000,000,000 board feet. 
The rest is second-growth trees of poor quality. 
One-half of this timber is in California, Washing- 
ton and Oregon. It is a long and costly haul from 
these Pacific Coast forests to the eastern markets. 
Less than one-fifth of our remaining timber is 
hardwood. 56,000,000,000 board feet of mate- 
rial of saw timber size are used or destroyed in 
the United States each year. Altogether, we use 
more than 26,000,000,000 cubic feet of timber of 
all classes annually. Our forests are making an- 
nual growth at the rate of less than one-fourth of 
this total consumption. We are rapidly cutting 
away the last of our virgin forests. We also are 
cutting small-sized and thrifty trees much more 
rapidly than we can replace them. 

The United States is short on timber today 
because our fathers and forefathers abused our 
forests. If they had planted trees on the lands 







mmsri 


IC^v ' : ' i 




^S^fe^^L 






WOOD FOR THE NATION 15S 

after the virgin timber was removed, we should 
now be one of the richest countries in the world 
in forest resources. Instead, they left barren 
stretches and desolate wastes where dense woods 
once stood. It is time that the present owners 
of the land begin the reclamation of our 326,- 
000,000 acres of cut-over timberlands. Some of 
these lands still are yielding fair crops of timber 
due to natural restocking and proper care. Most 
of them are indifferent producers. One-quarter 
of all this land is bare of forest growth. It is 
our duty as citizens of the United States to aid 
as we may in the reforestation of this area. 

Fires are cutting down the size of our forests 
each year. During a recent five-year period, 160,- 
000 forest fires burned over 56,488,000 acres, an 
area as large as the state of Utah, and destroyed 
or damaged timber and property valued at 
$85,715,000. Year by year, fires and bad timber 
practices have been increasing our total areas of 
waste and cut-over land. We are facing a future 
lumber famine, not alone because we have used 
up our timber, but also because we have failed 
to make use of our vast acreage of idle land 
adapted for growing forests. We must call a 
halt and begin all over again. Our new start 



154 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

must be along the lines of timber planting and 
tree increase. The landowners, the States and 
the Federal Government must all get together in 
this big drive for reforestation. 

It is impossible to make National Forests out 
of all the idle forest land. On the other hand, 
the matter of reforestation cannot be left to 
private owners. Some of them would set out 
trees and restore the forests as desired. Others 
would not. The public has large interests at 
stake. It must bear part of the burden. Proper 
protection of the forests against fire can come 
only through united public action. Everyone 
must do his part to reduce the fire danger. The 
public must also bring about needed changes in 
many of our tax methods so that private owners 
will be encouraged to go into the business of 
raising timber. The Government must do its 
share, the private landowner must help to the 
utmost and the public must aid in every possible 
way, including payment of higher prices for lum- 
ber as the cost of growing timber increases. 

France and Scandinavia have solved their 
forest problems along about the same lines the 
United States will have to follow. These coun- 
tries keep up well-protected public forests. All 



WOOD FOR THE NATION 155 

the landowners are taught how to set out and 
raise trees. Everyone has learned to respect the 
timberlands. The woods are thought of as treas- 
ures which must be carefully handled. The 
average man would no more think of abusing the 
trees in the forest than he would of setting fire 
to his home. The foreign countries are now busy 
working out their forestry problems of the years 
to come. We in America are letting the future 
take care of itself. 

Our States should aid generally in the work 
of preventing forest fires. They should pass 
laws which will require more careful handling of 
private forest lands. They should pass more 
favorable timber tax laws so that tree growing 
will be encouraged. Uncle Sam should be the 
director in charge of all this work. He should 
instruct the states how to protect their forests 
against fire. He should teach them how to re- 
new their depleted woodlands. He should work 
for a gradual and regular expansion of the Na- 
tional Forests. The United States Forest Ser- 
vice should have the power to help the various 
states in matters of fire protection, ways of 
cutting forests, methods of renewing forests and 



156 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

of deciding whether idle lands were better 
adapted for farming or forestry purposes. 

Experts believe that the Government should 
spend at least $2,000,000 a year in the purchase of 
new National Forests. About one-fifth of all our 
forests are now publicly owned. One of the best 
ways of preventing the concentration of timber 
in private ownership is to increase the area of 
publicly owned forests. Such actions would pre- 
vent the waste of valuable timber and would aid 
planting work. For best results, it is thought 
that the Federal Government should own about 
one-half of all the forests in the country. To 
protect the watersheds of navigable streams the 
Government should buy 1,000,000 acres of wood- 
lands in New England and 5,000,000 acres in the 
southern Appalachian Mountains. The National 
Forests should also be extended and consolidated. 

Federal funds should be increased so that the 
Forest Service can undertake on a large scale the 
replanting of burned-over lands in the National 
Forests. As soon as this work is well under way, 
Congress should supply about $1,000,000 annu- 
ally for such work. Many watersheds in the 
National Forests are bare of cover due to forest 
fires. As a result, the water of these streams is 



WOOD FOR THE NATION 157 

not sufficient for the needs of irrigation, water 
power and city water supply of the surround- 
ing regions. 

Right now, even our leading foresters do not 
know exactly what the forest resources of the 
country amount to. It will take several years to 
make such a survey even after the necessary 
funds are provided. We need to know just how 
much wood of each class and type is available. 
We want to know, in each case, the present and 
possible output. We want to find out the timber 
requirements of each state and of every import- 
ant wood-using industry. Exact figures are 
needed on the timber stands and their growth. 
The experimental work of the Forest Service 
should be extended. Practically every forest is 
different from every other forest. It is neces- 
sary to work out locally the problems of each 
timber reservation. Most urgent of all is the 
demand for a law to allow Federal officers to 
render greater assistance to the state forestry de- 
partments in fighting forest fires. 

Many state laws designed to perpetuate our 
forests must be passed if our remaining timber 
resources are to be saved. , During times when 
fires threaten, all the forest lands in each state 



158 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 

should be guarded by organized agencies. This 
protection should include cut-over and unim- 
proved land as well as timber tracts. Such a 
plan would require that the State and Federal 
governments bear about one-half the expenses 
while the private forest owners should stand the 
balance. There would be special rules regulating 
the disposal of slashings, methods of cutting tim- 
ber, and of extracting forest products such as 
pulpwood or naval stores. 

If our forests are to be saved for the future 
we must begin conservation at once. To a small 
degree, luck plays a part in maintaining the size 
of the forest. Some woodlands in the South 
Atlantic States are now producing their third cut 
of saw logs. Despite forest fires and other de- 
structive agencies, these forests have continued 
to produce. Some of the northern timberlands 
have grown crops of saw timber and wood pulp 
for from one hundred fifty to two hundred fifty 
years. Expert foresters report that private 
owners are each year increasing their plantings 
on denuded woodlands. New England land- 
owners are planting between 12,000,000 and 
15,000,000 young forest trees a year. The Middle 
Atlantic and Central States are doing about as 



WOOD FOR THE NATION 159 

well. To save our forests, planting of this sort 
must be universal. It takes from fifty to one hun- 
dred years to grow a crop of merchantable timber. 
What the United States needs is a national for- 
estry policy which will induce every landowner 
to plant and grow more trees on land that is not 
useful for farm crops. Our forestry problem is 
to put to work millions of acres of idle land. As 
one eminent forester recently remarked, "If we 
are to remain a nation of timber users, we must 
become a nation of wood growers." 

THE END 



TREES AS GOOD 
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